Returning Who Was Lost
by Crimsonsentry123
Summary: zombie AU. Sequel to Finding Who Was Lost. After a shocking discovery, Lincoln and Richard continue searching for Lincoln's family while said family finally finds a home across the state. Will contain more flashbacks and be divided between three groups of characters. Like my previous story, expect language, violence and sexual situations. I own nothing from the Loud House.
1. Losing Another Piece

**Hello all and welcome to my sequel to Finding Who Was Lost. Like before there will be Violence and Sexual Situations so be warned. I was going to make this first chapter really long but decided to split it in half after seeing how much more I had to write for the scenes, so expect chapter two within the next few days. I'm trying to get as much done as I can before devil may cry v comes out and drains all my time. **

**Anyways without further ado I bring you the first chapter in "Returning Who Was Lost". I hope you all enjoy. **

* * *

**Losing Another Piece**

**July 1st, 2020**

Haven. A safe community built by friends and neighbors of a suburban community. This location was created as a way to keep some form of civilization alive. The starting point from which humanity can return from the brink that was brought on by the dead rising. Many families are housed and protected in this walled off section of the world, not just surviving anymore, but living.

One such family was just wrapping up lunch as two sisters began washing the dishes leftover from their meal. After a few moments of silently washing the plates and utensils, the short haired brunette turned to her elder sister, sighing before asking her: "H-hey Lori? … I realized yesterday that it's, it's been a year".

Lori stopped scrubbing the plate she was on before turning to her younger sister. "A year since what Luna? There's a few anniversaries that are close to a year now… do you, sigh* do you mean Lincoln?" Luna sullenly nodded in response before handing Lori another plate. Lori set the one in her hands on the drying rack before taking the one Luna was handing to her. "Do you think the little dude could still be out there? There are some days when I hope that he is and is trying to find us, but others when I..."

"I feel those same conflicted feelings, but most of the time, when I do think about him, I believe the little twerp is still out there". "Lynn still hates mom, I can see it in her eyes any time someone brings him up or the two of them are in the same room together". Luna said as she handed Lori some of the utensils. "She needs to realize that it was for the best, we both know that he wouldn't want to find out that any of us died to rescue him. Mom made the right call… even if it hurt like hell".

The two said nothing else as they finished up washing the dishes while the rest of the family slowly exited the dining room. Heading into the Living room to spend some more time together before a few of them had to run off on their jobs.

They heard a knock at the door and Luna offered to go answer it. The Loud's arrived in Haven almost ten months ago and in that time they've made some new friends and a couple who have been more so. Luna wondered who it could be, and opened the door to find someone she had never seen before.

"Why hello there, might this be the Loud residence?" the stranger asked as he began eyeing her up and down, almost as if he was examining her. "Yeah it is, but who are you? I haven't seen you around here before so you must be new".

"Alright I'm gonna take a shot in the dark and guess… Luna?" Alright now Luna was downright surprised that this stranger knew her name and was now more curious than ever to know just who the hell this guy was.

"I'll ask this again, who are you? And how do you know my name?"

"Oh I'm sorry where are my manners? My name is Richard and I'm here on some very important business that involves your family...".

**June 10****th, ****2019**

The Loud family walked through the woods on their way to the next town, hoping to find a spot to rest before nightfall. They were beginning to run low on supplies and Rita figured the town they were heading towards would have enough to take care of her family. According to the map the place looked like it was bigger than the last few places they've had to loot or stay at.

Her children, even Lynn Jr. were exhausted with the amount of walking they've had to do today to cover as much ground as they could. Rita wanted to make it to the town before nightfall but based on their current speed and how much distance they still have left to go, she figured it would be best to set up a camp for the night. "Alright kids, hold up. It's already getting pretty dark out and I have a feeling this place is still a good couple hours away at least so lets set up camp here for tonight".

Everyone took their bags off as some started getting the tents set up. Lynn started running a wire around some of the surrounding trees to act as a perimeter, attaching some empty tin cans to use as an alert system. "Okay kids I want everyone to get to sleep as quickly as possible. We should move as early as we can tomorrow so we can make it to that town without much trouble. I'll keep watch for the first half of the night, anyone want to volunteer for the second half?"

"I'll do it mom, I haven't done guard duty for a bit now. Only seems fair". Luna spoke up, wanting to give her siblings some much needed rest after the past few days they've had. Besides, she knew she wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight anyway. "Thank you Luna. Everyone else finish getting stuff set up and lights out in the next hour. Understood?" Everyone nodded in response before finishing up the camp.

Once the campsite was set up everyone relaxed their aching muscles and tired bodies. Lori, who was now pregnant with Bobby's child sat down on a log next to a small camp fire that Lana had started. Lisa had made sure that her siblings knew the basics for surviving in the wilderness since their evacuation from the shelter five months ago.

When Lori realized she was pregnant, she wasn't sure how to feel. She was scared and worried about being a single mother, even if she had the support of her family, including Ronnie-Anne. She was ecstatic when Lori told her that she was pregnant, because it meant that she had a new member to her family that at the moment only really included her.

Lori was scared for the safety of her child and the difficulties that were sure to come with trying to raise them in this new world. In the months since the shelter the Loud's have seen nothing but failed attempts by people and the government trying to retain some form of society. The Loud's have tried to set up more permanent homes but their attempts fared no better, the longest amount of time they were able to stay in one place was one month. They had to leave that place because of supplies in the area becoming too scarce and no way of making it work.

Save for a few of them, the family had changed in the months on the road, with the outbreak bringing out parts of them they didn't know existed. One of the only members seemingly unaffected by the apocalypse was Leni.

She was still her cheery old self, even with everything that was going on around her. That bright smile she continued to show made an impact on her family's morale and she knew it.

Most people thought of her as nothing more than a ditsy blonde but she was much more than that underneath the surface. Sure she could be easily confused sometimes but she knew more than people, her family included, gave her credit for. She saw the effect she had on others and would occasionally act confused or stupid because it made her family and others laugh. So even if there were times when she's been scared beyond belief or everything going on was too much for her, she did her best to keep her smile up. She saw that the smile helped her family through some of the tougher times and knew that it was up to her to keep the morale of the group up.

Night began to fall on the camp and everyone started getting settled in for bed. Lincoln had pulled Lynn off to the side before he went off to his tent as there was something he needed to check on. Once they were away from the others Lincoln asked his sister how she was doing. "I know that something like that can be hard to get over so I was just wondering if you were doing okay?"

Lynn looked off to the side before turning her attention back to her brother, answering his question. "Yeah Lincoln I'm doing fine, it could've been a lot worse if you weren't there and I can't thank you enough for what you did".

* * *

**One week ago**

Lynn had strayed from the group to use the bathroom, unknown to the fact that there was someone stalking the group and waiting for a moment to strike. The assailant waited until she had pulled her shorts down before making his move, jumping out from behind the nearby bushes. He pushed her to the ground, forcing her on her stomach and shoving her head into the dirt while his other hand went to his belt.

Just as she was able to give voice to her screams, the man moved his hand so that it was covering her mouth. He used his other hand to smack her ass a few times, telling her to keep quiet or things would get much worse. Her muffled cries barely came through the man's hand around her mouth and tears had started forming in her eyes. She heard the sounds of metal clanking and the shuffling of clothes behind her and knew what was coming next, but praying to god that someone would come before things escalated.

Lucky for her, there was someone close enough to answer her prayers. Just as she felt something prodding at her entrance, the man was shoved off of her and onto the ground a few feet beside her. She barely had time to register what was going on before hearing the sounds fists connecting to face. She quickly got to her knees, pulling up her shorts, and looked to her left to see her brother pummeling her assailant to the ground. She could see the rage in his eyes and remembered the last time she saw that look, it was the same one he had when he killed that man at their house.

Lincoln kept punching the man in the head over and over, pulling him up by the collar of his shirt a few times just to smack him back down again. Lynn just watched on, not knowing whether to stop him or let him continue, she wondered what happened to her goofy little brother and when he turned into this.

After a few minutes, Lynn decided that this beating had gone on long enough and moved to stop her brother. She stumbled over to the pair and grabbed onto her brother's right arm just as he raised it to strike the man again. "Lincoln stop. Look at him… I, I think he's had enough". Lincoln's heavy breathing started lessening as he glared daggers at the broken face of the man beneath him.

His left eye was nearly swollen shut and had changed into a dark purple color while the right eye didn't look much better. The rest of the man's face was littered with lacerations and various bruises that had formed from the repeated trauma. After seeing the damage that he himself had just caused, Lincoln's glare had changed to one of regret and horror.

Lincoln stared at his shaky hands that were now stained with a mix of blood from himself and the man he beat. Lincoln had been hearing nothing but static since he saw the man on top of his sister and the entire time he was pulverizing the man as well. But now all he could hear were the strangled gasps for air and chocked sobs coming from the man beneath him. Lincoln could hear faint gurgling noises and figured the man was choking on the mix of fluids in his lungs and chest.

The man had started spitting up blood and by the sounds of it he was drowning in his own blood. "Oh crap..." Lincoln muttered out before he slowly got up and backed away from the guy he has nearly beaten to death. He thought back to the man in their house that he killed and more recently the person he had to shoot a couple towns back. Well some would argue that he didn't "have" to, but that didn't change the fact that it happened. This however, was different, the two before this guy were quick. They didn't drown in a mix of blood and spit.

"Let's just go Lincoln, I don't think he's going to be hurting anyone else anytime soon". Lynn said as she tried to lead her brother back to the group, except Lincoln wasn't moving. "He's going to die Lynn. Can't you hear him? If we leave then he's going to die. Slowly. All alone". "And what? You think that's our problem or something? You saw what he was doing to me… he ain't getting any damn sympathy from me. So come on".

Lincoln looked over to her as her eyes said it all, they were pleading with him to just leave this whole awful mess behind them and return to their family. Without another word Lincoln just took out his knife and walked over to the broken man, stabbing him in the head. "Hmpf. Whatever". Lynn huffed as she turned and walked back to their family, Lincoln soon followed suit.

* * *

**Present day**

"You said you didn't want me to tell the others about it, but I feel like you should talk about it. I feel like what happened is still affecting you and I wa-"

"Listen Lincoln. You already helped by saving me from that creep. I don't want to talk about it. Just like you don't want to talk about what's happened with you. We both know you aren't yourself these days either".

"I, I don't know what you're talking about, I'm fine". He responded in a meek smile that Lynn could tell was forced. Lynn just gave him a deadpan glare. "My point exactly… until you want to talk about what's changed with **you, **I'm "fine" as well. So drop it". Lynn pushed past her brother as he stood there contemplating his next move. _**"Well she got us there Lincoln. You ready to tell them that you're slowly turning all murder, murder while talking to a voice in your head?" **_

_"Shut up." _Lincoln was now more annoyed than anything and just walked back to his tent. Ronnie-Anne was already settling inside the tent, wanting to get to bed early. "Hey Lame-o." she waved at him. "Hey" he said dejectedly.

"Is something up Lincoln? I mean, more than usual". She gave a light chuckle at the end as she asked him. Lincoln laid down on the sleeping bag next to hers and decided to try and open up a bit. "Ronnie… do you think I'm good?" "Good? What do you mean by that? I think you're good in more ways than one". She said as she winked at him.

He ignored what she was inferring by that. "I mean, do you think that I'm a good person? After all that's happened". Ronnie realized that he wasn't looking for her joke answers and decided to answer him honestly. "Why don't you think you're good? Because you've killed a couple people? They were trying to hurt your family Lincoln. You were just defending them so just like all of us have said don't feel bad for doing just that. You killed those two so th-" "Three." Lincoln corrected her.

"What?" "I've killed three people now Ronnie. Please don't tell the others this but… a week ago Lynn was attacked by someone when she went to use the bathroom". Ronnie's eyes widened in shock at this revelation. Everyone had wondered what happened and why Lynn and Lincoln took so long. _"There was a deer and we figured we'd try to hunt it for dinner but it got away". _Some were skeptical but relented after the assurances from their siblings.

"I found this guy on top of her just as he was about to… Everything kind of blurred after that. I vaguely remember the anger I felt and the feeling of my fists as they hit the man's face again and again". At this point Lincoln turned to face her before finishing his train of thought. "Then the other day I remembered the worst part...is that there's a part of me that… enjoyed it. I didn't want to stop and if it wasn't for Lynn then I don't know if I would have. After I came back to my senses and saw what I did I was scared and confused. Scared because I was capable of that kind of violence".

"Lincoln the fact that you were scared by what you did means that you didn't intend to go that far. The fact that you have regret for what happened means that you are a good man. Just a good man who does what is necessary to protect those he loves". Lincoln thought on her words but then continued his questioning, still not sure.

"But I liked it Ronnie. There's a part of me that wants to do those things again, to go further and cause more pain. How can I be a good person if there's a part of me that just wants to hurt people?". He responded. His tone now laced with worry and fear. "Lincoln let me ask you this. Do you want to hurt me? Your family? Anyone you see on the street?" Lincoln shook his head.

"That's because the only people you have actually wanted to hurt are the ones who have attempted to hurt you or your family. You haven't tried to hurt anyone who hadn't already hurt someone else".

Lincoln was starting to understand what she was getting at. _**"you have a smart one there man. she's a keeper. And she has a point, you haven't hurt anyone who hasn't deserved some level of hurt back. As I've been trying to help you get. You may have changed but not as bad as you think". **__"you sure have a funny way of helping me you know that? Why not just say that?" __**"because I am just a part of your mind remember? there's only so much I can actually **__**do to **__**get through to this other **__**side**__** of you". **_

*snap *snap "Hey! Earth to Lame-O" "huh? Oh sorry I was just thinking about what you said. You have a point about the people I have hurt so far". Lincoln moved closer to pull her into a hug, one which she gladly reciprocated. _"I'll have to talk to Lynn about this later too. Maybe get her to open up as well". _Lincoln thought.

* * *

Unbeknownst to the group, there was a group of people overlooking their camp, waiting for the moment to strike. "Remember guys the boss doesn't care much if you kill the older ones but still try and get them all down there ALIVE. Especially that white-haired brat, the boss is sure to reward us for bringing him back". The others nodded in response as they waited for more of them to go to sleep.

After a couple more hours the gang made their move and stealthily started invading the camp. They didn't get too far before Luna spotted one of them as she was coming out of her tent to switch places with her mom. She screamed out and grabbed the small revolver she had on her hip. She fired at the first two people she saw and hit one in their arm, making him stumble back before she was shot at by another gang member.

All the noise had alerted the other family members and they started getting out of their tents and a few of them grabbed weapons to fend off their attackers. Luna's right arm was grazed by the shot and ran behind a tree for cover. Lincoln and Ronnie-Anne had run out of the tent to help when Lincoln was struck in the back of the head by one of the assailants, Causing him to black out. Ronnie called out to him before another gang member had attacked her, pinning her to the ground as she struggled with the pipe he had in his hands.

The man was trying to choke her with his weapon while his friend ran off with Lincoln swung over his shoulder. "NO!" Ronnie screamed out as the man took this opportunity to punch her across the face, weakening her struggles before Lynn rushed in to help her out.

She smacked the guy across the face with her bat, knocking him out before helping Ronnie-Anne to her feet. "you alright?" Lynn asked. Ronnie started rubbing the side of her face, "yeah… I think so. Wait Lincoln! They took him". Lynn was in shock and couldn't move after what she was just told. "Which way". Ronnie was so flustered that she couldn't remember the direction they ran off in, she held her head as she started to panic. She couldn't lose anyone else.

"I, I don't know! I think they went this way". She said as they started heading off in that direction before being interrupted when they heard a scream coming from further in camp. Lynn was torn, her family needed their help, but Lincoln was also family and he needed them as well, after hearing another scream however her mind was made up. "Fuck! Come on Ronnie. Lincoln's tough and he can handle himself, the others need our help more".

More gunshots rang through the night as the gang of attackers continued to trade shots with the Loud's. Rita lined up a shot with her rifle and shot one of the men behind a tree. There were still four men left by the time Lynn and Ronnie-Anne joined the family. Lynn grabbed the gun from her tent and shot the man trading shots with Luna by a grouping of trees. Lori was using the Log she sat on earlier as cover as two of the gang had started shooting at her with their assault rifles. She returned fire and managed to hit one of them in the chest, knocking him down.

"Aw screw this! Anyone left alive get the hell out of here. Its time to cut our losses". One of the few remaining gang members screamed out. As one of them tried running from the cover they were in, they were tackled to the ground by Lucy and Lana. Rita had told the younger ones to stay down if anything ever happened but a couple of them ignored that rule.

Lana had whacked the man in the head with her shovel and Lucy used a police baton she found a couple days ago. Before either of them could land another hit however, he recovered and threw them off so he could escape with his last two friends. The last three of the group had managed to escape in the cover of darkness back to where they came from.

"*huff *huff* is everyone alright?" Rita asked. One by one the group gathered in the middle of the camp. "You girls alright? Wait. Where's Lincoln? Has anyone seen your brother!?" "They… they took him!" Ronnie-Anne exclaimed. Rita held a hand to her mouth at this revelation. "Ronnie said that they went that way. If we leave now we might be able to catch up to them". Lynn commented.

"Lynn honey its too dangerous out right now. And we have no idea how many of them there still are out there. Right now we need to just stay put and plan out our next move". Lynn didn't like it one bit, she wanted to rush off right now and rescue her brother. But she knew her mother was right and stayed with her family to help recuperate.

* * *

It was past midnight by the time the kidnapper reached his home with Lincoln, who was still unconscious over the man's shoulder. "Heeeyy Johnny! I see you're the first one back. With a nice little prize to boot". One of the two guards at the front door to the hotel greeted him and lifted up Lincoln's head by his hair to examine his face. "Hhmmm hopefully Jim let's some of us have some fun with this kid too, he looks nice". "You know the rules Ronald, Jim gets dibs and decides what happens afterwards". Ronald rolled his eyes and nodded before Johnny headed inside with his capture.

The two guards stayed on lookout for the rest of the group, wondering what was taking the others so long. They didn't realize that Johnny would be the only one to make it back.

Johnny walked through the halls of the hotel, passing a few of his friends and waving to them as he continued heading up to Jim's room. Once he reached the door, Johnny knocked and waited a moment for Jim to open the door. Jim slowly opened up the door to see what Johnny had brought him, seeing the white-haired kid over his shoulder. "Damn it took you long enough John, where are the others? Are they with you?" Jim asked, hoping that there was more than just this one boy.

"Well the group spotted us too quickly and the others started fighting them while I ran with this brat. I'm actually surprised no one else is back yet". "Eh just set him down on the bed and feel free to go take whatever you want from the storage area. Just show this to the two at the door and they'll let ya in. Don't get too greedy though". Jim said as he handed Johnny a coin.

Johnny left the room and Lincoln, who was still unconscious was left alone with Jim. Jim walked over to his new friend and gave him a look over. "When you wake up kid, you and me are gonna have loads of fun hehehe..." Jim smirked before walking over to the bed.

He lifted up Lincoln's shirt, examining his body before pulling it back down and undoing the boy's pants. Jim pulled them down to Lincoln's thighs and had a look at his dick before flipping him over and taking a look at his ass. "Yeah loads of fun… I'm tempted to wake you up now but I'm a nice guy. I'll let you have your rest, you're gonna need it after all". Jim pulled up Lincoln's pants before attaching a cuff to Lincoln's right ankle so that he wouldn't escape while Jim slept himself.

* * *

The Loud's had collected themselves and started coming up with a plan on what to do next. "Alright kids, our next move is to find Lincoln. Thanks to Ronnie-Anne we know the direction they took him and they could even be hold up in the town we were heading towards earlier". Rita began. "It's still dark out and those gunshots made it so that we can't stay here without the added threat of walkers making their way here, so while I don't want to endanger anyone else here I think it's best we follow the way that man went and get Lincoln back".

Rita decided to write a quick note for Lincoln just in case they didn't find him and he managed to get away to find his way back here. "Mom why are you leaving his stuff here? we're going to get him right now so lets just take it with us". Lola asked her.

"Well honey just in case...we don't find him I want to leave his stuff here so that if he finds his own way back he'll see where we're going and have his things here waiting for him". The Loud's started heading in the direction the kidnapper took Lincoln, hoping that they weren't too late and they'd find their brother unharmed. After twenty minutes of walking through the dark forest Lynn could swear she felt a pair of eyes on her, and a feeling of dread swept through her body.

"Guys shh!" she loudly whispered to her family. They all stopped where they were and listened, wondering what Lynn heard or saw that made her stop. They heard the snapping of twigs in the distance and started looking around them, now knowing that they were being followed. It had to be the ones from earlier, the dogs who ran off to lick their wounds. "Everyone stay close". Rita said to the kids before they slowly continued on. The Loud's had made it back to one of the main roads before too long and started following it in the direction of the town.

They were startled by the sound of a car door shutting behind them. They looked back to try and see any signs of people, or walkers following them. "Alright that's enough, everyone stop here, we aren't going any further in this condition. I have a bad feeling about all this". Rita spoke up.

"But mom! We need to keep moving forward so we can get to Lincoln, who knows why those bastards took him in the first place". Lynn argued, feeling like they are letting him down by staying put. At that moment one of the men from earlier had jumped out from behind one of the cars and grabbed Lucy, holding her by the throat and pressing a blade to her face. "Nobody move or the girl dies, now put your weapons down nice and slowly". To add more emphasis behind his threat he added more pressure behind the knife, drawing a small amount of blood from Lucy's cheek. "Alright, alright just don't hurt my daughter".

One by one the Loud's slowly dropped the various guns and weapons they had in their possession. At this point the two other men that had run off earlier had appeared from the forest, brandishing handguns pointed at the family. They told the group to back up while they took away the weapons on the ground. Lucy wasn't going to be some damsel in distress however and discreetly lifted her dress to grab the small switchblade she had strapped to her thigh. She bit down hard on the man's hand that was holding the knife before using her own to stab him in the eye.

The screams emanating from the man caused his friends to be distracted and Luna grabbed the hatchet that they still hadn't thrown away and lodged it into one of their necks. The last of the men turned to Luna and aimed his gun at her but before he could get the shot off he was hit across the side of the head by Lynn. Knocking him out.

After the tense exchange they just had, Lynn relented and agreed to stay with the family on the road to wait for dawn. It would also give her time to ask their new captive some questions.

It was another hour before Lynn was able to smack her prisoner awake.

"Cough* cough* what the hell? What happened?" he asked, dazed and confused. "we killed your friends and now I have some questions for you. I think it'd be in your best interest to answer them". The prisoner looked around, his hands were bound behind his back and his ankles were tied as well, he wasn't getting out of his bonds anytime soon. "How many of you are there?" Lynn asked. "Why the hell should I answer you? What are you gonna do hit me?" he asked in condescending tone that Lynn didn't take kindly to.

Without answering his question, Lynn took her baseball bat and swung it at the man's leg, hitting him across his shin and causing him to yelp in pain. "Next one goes higher, now answer my question, how many of you are there?"

"Ow. I ain't telling you anything, besides it doesn't matter how many of us there are. You aren't getting that boy back, who is he by the way your brother? Maybe your lover? Hahahaha-" Lynn gripped her bat tighter and swung again, this time hitting the man in his knee, busting the man's kneecap in the process.

"AAAHHHH YOU BITCH! FUCK!" "Are you ready to talk now asshole!?" The man continued to scream in agony in response to her question. "Lynn enough. Get over here" Rita shouted. "Go and sit with your younger sisters, I'll handle this." Lynn started walking over to the younger ones but stopped when her mom grabbed her bat. Lynn looked to her mother ready to challenge her on this but decided against it when she saw her mother's stern face.

The prisoner was now left in the "care" of Lori and Rita. "Sorry about my daughter, I'm sure you already know this has been a tough night on us. But if you tell us what we want to know then I'll cut you free and we'll be on our way". "Ha whats this now? Good cop bad cop? I don't think so lady… damn".

"Sorry but there's no good cops here tonight, just bad cops and worse cops. Now one more time and it will be a bit before I take a break to ask this again. How many of you are there and Where is my son?" "I'll tell you this: your sons probably in hell right now hehehe". Rita frowned before gripping the bat and smacking the man across the face, causing teeth to fly out of his mouth. After hitting him a few more times, he finally relented and answered one of her questions. "O-o-over thirty god. Stop damn it."

_"Hm nine against thirty? Even with how tough the girls have gotten I don't like those odds, especially since Leni and Lola still have problems just killing walkers. That would really make it seven. Besides, Lori is pregnant, I don't want to risk her either, This isn't good. Maybe he's just lying". _

"Over thirty? I don't buy it, how many of you are there really?" "Huff* Huff* well after that attack, the number is probably down to thirty-two if I'm counting right. We have this hotel in the town up ahead that we stay at. Trust me lady just be thankful your boy was the only one we were able to get".

Rita didn't know what to do next, maybe they could try to sneak in, get Lincoln out without being noticed. "If I was you I'd take the kids I had left and run, get far away from that place because you don't want your kids anywhere near any of us. I am sorry about your boy but you'll lose more than him if you try to get him back. I bet my friend has already made it back to our home with him".

Rita looked back to him and thought about what he was saying. She knew how some people could be, and this apocalypse was the perfect excuse for all the bad ones to live in a world they belonged, she couldn't leave her son to those types of people. Without warning Rita took out her gun and shot the man in the head. "Come on Lori, we're getting our boy back".

* * *

It was early in the morning when Lincoln finally woke up, feeling one killer headache thanks to the hit he took to the head the previous night. He went to get up but tripped after trying to move off the bed he was on. _"Wait, __a__ bed? Why the hell was I on a bed, where am I? And why am I chained up?" __**"Well I imagine that's because someone kidnapped ya dummy. Remember last night?" **_Lincoln thought back to it and remembered being in the camp with his family, trying to sleep in his tent next to Ronnie when he heard shouting and gunfire. _"__A__fter I ran out I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head, then everything went black". _Lincoln started looking around to get a grasp of his situation.

The first thing he noticed was some stranger sleeping on the bed he was chained to, he was snoring like an animal. Lincoln checked the chain around his ankle to try and get it off but to no avail. There was a lock on it and he could see a key on a nightstand, but unfortunately, said nightstand was on the opposite side of the bed. "Damn it" Lincoln huffed under his breath. _**"Well come on Mr. Man With A Plan. What are we gonna do?" **__"I don't know just shut up so __**I**__ can think". _

Lincoln looked around the room, trying to find a way out or anything useful he could get his hands on, but there was nothing within reach. Lincoln held his head in frustration before a thought came across his mind: his family. He wondered what happened to them in the attack.

He didn't see any of them here and that could mean a lot of different things. They could have gotten away just fine and fought those other guys off, they could be held in a different room, or they could be… _"No. Lincoln don't think like that. they're fine and you're gonna get out of here and find them". _

"Well I see someone's up".

Lincoln was startled by the emergence of a voice unfamiliar to him. It was the man on the bed. "So how did you sleep? Have any good dreams?" The man was smiling at him, before he got up off the bed and stretched his back. Lincoln heard a pop and the man stopped stretching to turn back to the boy. "So my name's Jim and you are?" Lincoln was hesitant to answer, this guy gave off a creepy vibe that didn't match his friendly tone.

"Didn't your mamma teach you any manners? I asked you a question." "M-my name is Lincoln". Jim smiled at the boy before picking up the key to what Lincoln assumed was his ankle cuff. "Now I'm going to undo that thing for you but don't go running off. The only reason I put it on you was so that you didn't rush off in the dead of night with any of my stuff all alone".

"If you were worried about that then maybe you shouldn't have hit me over the head and took me from my family in the first place!" Lincoln retorted. Not realizing the gravity of the situation he was in. seeing that the kid had no intention of being nice with him Jim decided to drop the pleasantries and get down to business. "Well you got me there, but it wasn't me. That was one of my guys who did that. Sorry for the rough way you were brought here. But now that you are here I think you owe me some thanks for keeping you safe from that crazy world out there".

"I was safe with my group, so if you wouldn't mind undoing this so I can go back to them, I would appreciate it. I have no intention of hurting you so long as you don't give me a reason to". Lincoln responded. "Heh a fighter huh, good I like em with some fight". Lincoln didn't exactly know what he meant by that and didn't plan on staying to find out.

"Tell you what kid, if you give me something I want then I'll let ya go. You know a trade, your freedom for a simple gift". Lincoln didn't like where this was going, he had a bad feeling about what the man meant by gift. "What do you mean by gift?" Jim's face sported a smirk when he asked that and threw the key back on the nightstand before standing only a few feet away from Lincoln. "Tell me Lincoln, how much do you know about… sex?"

* * *

**And I'm going to stop it there. I have most of the next chapter written, just need to finish a few more scenes and put some finishing touches on it. Like I said earlier it should be up within the next few days. Most of this story is going to take place between three separate groups. Richard and Lincoln, Rita and the kids, and Lynn sr. with Lily and the McBrides. These first two chapters mainly focus on The Louds just before and after Lincoln got separated but every chapter after those will be split between these three groups at different points in time. I'll be sure to make it clear in which time they are taking place though. **

**I'll try to get a chapter done every week but I make no promises, this one is going to be a bit longer than my first story and I'm trying to do better than I did with that one. Anyways, enough rambling. I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and be sure to leave any comments if you'd be so inclined, have a good one and see you next time on "Returning Who Was Lost". **


	2. First Day In Hell

**So here's the rest of the first chapter, after this we'll move back to the present to check back with Richard and Lincoln after the discovery of his sister's death. disclaimer: I own nothing from the Loud House. **

**Trigger warning: this chapter contains rape **

* * *

**First Day In Hell**

The Loud's had made it into town just as the sun was starting to rise. They began looking around town for the hotel that the man from earlier had told them about. After searching around for twenty minutes the group had found the hotel and scoped the place out from a safe distance. Rita knew they needed to move quickly so there would be chance of them being discovered. It was still very early in the morning and the sun had barely risen, giving the Loud's some cover of darkness to work with and the fact that most inside would still be asleep.

"Alright we need to move quickly and quietly when we get inside. There's no telling how many of them will be awake and how many are actually inside, so stay close". Rita informed everyone of the plan. They'd move to the left side of the building as soon as the patrol roaming around the place switched sides and once inside they'd search each room as quickly as possible to find Lincoln. But someone needed to stay outside, not just to watch the younger ones who couldn't fight but also in case something went wrong.

"I'll stay outside with Leni, Lola, and Lisa. We'll hide in that alleyway down there while we wait for you guys". Lori spoke up, opting to stay behind so they'd have the best chance inside. Leni and her would just slow them down, and the other two could barely fight walkers, let alone humans. Everyone got in position as the patrol was about to switch direction and head to the other end of the building.

The Loud's managed to get to the left side entrance without being discovered and quietly made their way inside. Lori and the others were hiding in an alleyway nearby as they waited for the rest of the group to come back, hopefully with Lincoln in tow. They were unaware of the man creeping in from the other side of the alley.

The rescue team started making their way through the hallways of the hotel, searching room to room for their target. They didn't have long before members of the gang started to awaken for the day as the sun was steadily rising for a new day. They encountered a few poor souls who had the misfortune to wake up early and they quietly took them out.

They had made their way to the opposite end of the long corridor of rooms and headed into the stairwell to make it to the second floor. The group was unaware of the man who had seen them through the peephole of their door and were woefully unprepared for what was about to transpire.

* * *

Back in the alley, Lori and the others were patiently awaiting the rescue party while an unknown predator crept up to them from behind. The assailant jumped out from behind a dumpster and attacked Lori, who immediately drew her gun to defend her and her siblings. The attacker grabbed her arm before she could fully raise it and struggled with her to get a hold of the gun. He punched her across the left side of her face, and she in turn dropped the gun, which the attacker kicked to the side.

Leni and the others were to scared to interfere even though their sister wouldn't be able to beat this man, she pleaded him to stop but he ignored her as their fight continued. The assailant shoved Lori up against the wall and went to punch her again but Lori used her knee to strike him in his most vulnerable section.

The man yelped in pain and Lori tried to make a move for her gun, but the man recovered to quickly and tripped her. Luckily for her unborn child she didn't fall far, she didn't reach her gun but found her Golf club laying only a few inches from her. She grabbed it and readied it to strike her assailant but he was on her too fast, grabbing hold of the club himself and trying to force it against Lori's throat to choke her.

The two struggled for control of the club as Leni decided to act to save her sisters. She saw Lori's gun only a few short feet away and quickly snatched it, with trembling hands she aimed it at the fighters. She again yelled for the man to stop but he continued to pay her no mind as he started to choke Lori with her own golf club. She knew it would draw those monsters but she had to do something, so Leni fired into the air to try and grab the attacker's attention.

He looked in her direction while continuing to apply force against Lori's throat, not relenting in his attack. "I said stop. Or-or I'll sh-sh-shoot you!" Leni threatened. "Haha yeah sure you will…now why don't you put that down before you hurt yourself… I'll be with you in just a minute". He replied as he continued to strangle Lori, who was beginning to lose consciousness. "Just do it Leni! he's going to kill her" Lola shouted to her.

The shot echoed throughout the quiet town, and a flock of nearby birds scattered as they were startled from their perch. The man had stopped his struggle as he felt a sharp pain in his chest, he looked down to see a hole in the center of it. Leni with tears in her eyes, held the smoking gun her whole body shaking as she said "I'm s-s-sorry".

She dropped the gun as Lori shoved the man off her, choked breaths finally being allowed through her airways. She slowly got up and looked over to the man who had started choking on the blood that flooded his lungs. Lori took her knife and put him out of his misery before walking over to her younger sister and wrapping her in a tight embrace.

"Th-thank you so much Leni, are you alright!?" Lori immediately asked as she noticed the tears in her sister's eyes and the state she was in. "I-I-I didn't want to… L-Lori why? Why did he make me? Why didn't he stop!?" Leni tearfully replied, appalled at the act she just committed. "Leni it's alright, you did what you had to do. He was going to kill me and you saved me, hell you literally saved all of us".

"Our eldest sister is right Leni, if you hadn't fired on that man then I expected an 85% chance that we would've all been next. You saved us, just like our male sibling has done in the past. You've done nothing wrong". Lisa said as she tried calming her sister down using logic since emotion wasn't one of her strong suits. "Ye-yeah what Lisa said, you're a hero, just like Lincoln. don't feel sad about it".

Leni started to calm down as she listened to her sister's kind words, she still felt bad about killing that man but they were right, there was no other choice.

* * *

Back inside the hotel the group heard the faint shot in the distance and were worried about who they left outside, hoping no one found Lori and them. Just then, two men from different rooms emerged in confusion and saw the Loud's at the end of the hall. There was no time to reach the two before they shouted out, alerting more of their friends and giving the Loud's a fight on their hands.

The Loud's burst into the closest room as the two men began opening fire with their handguns, narrowly missing Lana who was the last in the room, closing the door behind her. "What do we do now?" Ronnie shouted out in annoyance. "If there really are over thirty of them here then we might have to retreat, I don't think we can take them all on, especially since they know we're here now". Rita said, dreading the choice that she was about to make.

"But we can't leave now, we haven't found Lincoln. I bet he's on the top floor or something so let's just go back to the stairs and race to the top. We can find another way down afterwards". Lynn proposed, not wanting to leave her brother behind, no matter how many people they may have to fight to get to him. "Fine but we need to do it quickly. This gunfire is going to wake everyone else up and draw more walkers to this building. We need to get out before this place gets surrounded". Rita replied.

Rita kicked the door open and aimed her rifle down the corridor, shooting at the two men that had started making their way to the room. She hit both of them and as more doors In the hallway opened up Rita and the others made their way to the stairwell. Lynn was the first to the door and opened it up, only to be met with a gun aimed at her face. She ducked just a second before the woman in front of her fired and the shot hit Rita in her right arm, causing her to drop the gun she had.

Luna responded by drawing her revolver and firing at the woman, hitting her between the eyes. The woman's body fell backwards down the stairs and landed on another gang member, knocking a gun out of their hand. More footsteps could be heard above the Loud's and Rita regrettably made the call. "I'm sorry but we need to leave, everyone head back down and out quickly!" "what!? No what about Lincoln? We can't leave him". Luna argued. "We'll come back when it's safer, we can't fight them all and I can't lose another one of you so I said MOVE IT!" Rita shouted.

Everyone made it back down the stairs to the first floor and were met with gunfire as soon as they opened the door. Shots whizzed by some of their heads as they ducked back inside the stairwell. "There's too many of them. What are we going to do?" Lucy shouted. Rita turned and noticed an emergency exit behind them, "Everyone out this way!" she shouted.

The group burst through the door and ran around the back of the building, trying to make it back to the alley where the others were waiting for them. The patrol from earlier got in their way and begun to open fire, as the group ran for any cover they could find. One of the two on patrol flanked to the right of the group to get a better shot, but before he could another shot rang out and hit the man through the heart. The other patrolman stopped firing when he saw his friend drop and looked around in confusion before being shot in the head himself.

Lori emerged from a nearby building and called the rest of her family over, the first thing she noticed was the gunshot wound her mother sported and the fact that her little brother wasn't with them. Lori led the others through the back of the building where a still shaken Leni and the others were waiting. Rita was about to ask what happened and why Lori was sporting a new cut on her face before they heard the shouting coming from the direction of the hotel. They knew they couldn't stay there any longer or they would risk being discovered so they moved further into town, towards the opposite end from the hotel.

The group snuck inside the back of a hardware store to elude their pursuers, who had lost track of the group shortly before hand. "huff* huff* okay is everyone alright? And wheres… Lincoln?" Lori asked the group. Lynn gave an angry glare in her mother's direction before answering. "Mom felt it was better for us to leave Lincoln behind than risking any more of our lives" "Dude! Not cool, mom was right. Even if we reached the little dude, who knows how many more of us could've gotten shot and or killed. I stand by her decision". Luna spoke up for her mother. "Whatever..." Lynn huffed in annoyance.

Lisa walked over to her mother to check on the wound and help her take care of it. The others started calming down from their earlier scuffles and talking to each other on what to do next. After ten minutes Rita cleared her throat and began telling the kids of the difficult decision she had brought herself to. "Listen girls. I- I can't lose anyone else, after… after Luan, Lily, your father… the McBride's and now… I don't want to risk any more lives by going back in there". Rita sullenly began. "Are. You. FUCKING KIDDING!?" Lynn shouted. "Lynn calm down, let mo-" "No Lori! She's telling us that she wants to just leave Lincoln in that place! Shes acting like he's dead already".

"Lynn honey, I don't know whether he's alive, dead or what but I do know that it's far too dangerous for us to go back in there and there's a slim chance that we'd all get out of there, if any of us at all. You saw how many there was and I doubt we'd be able to take them all on".

"What if the Lincy isn't even there? He-he could've gotten away or not even made it there in the first place". Leni suggested. "Don't be stupid Leni, he was knocked unconscious when that guy took him, he wouldn't have been able to get away for at least a few hours at best. Hes in there".

"But Lynn, you almost died in there… if you were one second slower you wouldn't be here right now. And that's a terrifying thought". Lucy calmly said.

"I can't believe this… you're all wanting to just leave him in there!? he's saved our lives more than once and now when he needs us, you're just going to throw him away like garbage?" Lynn angrily said, her face was red and she was boiling with rage for her siblings. "Come on Ronnie, you're with me on this right?" Lynn asked as she looked over to the corner Ronnie was huddled in.

Ronnie looked up to Lynn with saddened eyes. "Why?" Lynn asked in disbelief. "Lincoln, if he is in there… how do you think he would feel if he knew any of you, any of us, died trying to rescue him?" Ronnie began.

"He would do anything for you girls, he never wanted to talk about it with you but he still blames himself for Luan. And that was something he wasn't even remotely responsible for or had control over. He said that he'd never be able to forgive himself if another one of you died and he could've done something to stop it". Lynn was calming down as she listened to Ronnie-Anne's reasoning.

"That boy, that fool, he would gladly give his life for any one of you, but if you did so for him… I feel like that'd tear him apart. I hate to say it, and I don't want to do it, but he'd rather us just leave so we'd be safe". All the girls had begun tearing up at this point and started really thinking about this. They knew that what Ronnie was saying was right, but that didn't make it any less hard to leave.

"I-I agree with Ronnie… I think it's what Lincoln would want". Lori said. One by one the girls nodded in response and agreed, Lynn had balled her hands into fists and punched the wall. Everyone was sure they heard something break, and if it did Lynn didn't show it, she started crying before turning back to her family. "F-fine damnit. If you're all so fucking sure that he'd want this then we'll leave, but I'm only coming on one condition: We don't fucking talk about him..."

Everyone hung their heads at Lynn's request. They knew it was a promise they wouldn't be able to keep but they agreed so she'd leave with them. _"I'm so sorry"_ they all thought as they packed up the supplies they had and stealthily made it out of town.

* * *

**five minutes into infiltration**

"Tell me Lincoln, how much do you know about… sex?"

Lincoln finally realized what was going on and what this creep wanted from him, and for the first time In a while he felt true fear creep through his body. "By the expression on your face I'm guessin enough to know what I want you to do. So get on your knees". Jim said, dropping his nice guy act and adding a certain malice to his tone of voice. Lincoln just stood there in fear, not wanting to accept what was going on, wanting this all to just be a nightmare and wake back up in his tent next to Ronnie-Anne.

"What, what happened to the people I was with?" Lincoln asked, hoping Jim would humor him and his attempt to stall. "Well the guy who brought you back was the only one of my guys to return so I'm guessing the others were taken care of by your people". Jim replied. "Now if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to move this along. So..." Lincoln looked at him with pleading eyes, begging him not to do this, but Jim wasn't phased and slid off his shirt before throwing it across the room.

Jim took a step towards Lincoln as he took a step back in response, but he couldn't take many more before the chain attached to the bed stopped him from doing so. "Don't make this hard Lincoln, the more you resist the more pain you'll experience. I'm not going to hold back just because of your age". Jim warned, now only two feet from Lincoln. _**"Hey Lincoln I know you probably don't want to listen to me but he's right and I think you should listen to him". **__"What!?" _

_** "Look, the way I see it is you have two options: fight, or let it happen. Now both options will hold pain, but the main difference is the amount of it. This guy seems to revel in hurting people and I feel like it'd be in your best interest to just accept this and let him screw you, us". **__"I'm not just going to sit here and let him do what he wants with me, I can't". _

_** "**__**A**__**nd that's something I like about you, your determination and willpower. But trust me, things will get bad when you resist so if I was you I'd just do this and get it over with". **__"And what? Then he'll let me go? Yeah right we both know that won't happen. He'll keep me here and do this to me as long as he can". _

_** "Alright whatever man. I'm just trying to help and make things easier for you. I might be able to trick your brain into thinking you're somewhere else while it's happening but this is gonna suck either way. **__**Good luck**__**". **_

Suddenly a gunshot rang out from below the two and Jim left the room to go investigate. "The hell?… don't go nowhere. If you aren't naked on that bed when I get back there's gonna be hell to pay". Jim said as he left.

As soon as the door closed Lincoln jumped on the bed to try and reach the key on the nightstand. Unfortunately it was too far and he couldn't make it, no matter how much he tried to maneuver the chain. Lincoln huffed in annoyance before he started thinking of a way to reach the key. Looking around, Lincoln didn't see anything he could use to extend his reach or grapple the key to him.

Then he got an idea, he took off his right shoe and undid some of the shoelace on it, fashioning a sort of grapple hook to try and nab the key. He threw the shoe and it landed to the left of the key, bouncing off the nightstand. Lincoln pulled the shoe back and tried again, this time hitting the lamp on the right corner and causing it to fall on the ground and break. _"D__amn it come on, come on"._ Lincoln took a long breath to calm down and tried again, managing to make the shoe land just behind the key. Slowly, Lincoln pulled the shoe, trying to catch the key with it and bring it closer.

As he dragged the shoe closer, the key caught on the side and began dragging along the nightstand with it. Once it was at the edge of the nightstand, Lincoln gave a forceful tug on the shoe and the key flopped onto the bed. At this point Lincoln grabbed the sheets to pull the key to him. Once the key was in hand, he used it to undo the cuff and immediately ran for the door. _**"Wait!" **__"What?" __**"He could have guards posted outside or something… there's a peephole up there, take a look". **_

Lincoln got on the tips of his toes to reach the small looking glass in the door and saw that no one was outside. He slowly opened the door and looked back and forth in the corridor. Seeing no one was there he opened the door that was on the opposite end of the hall. It opened to reveal a storage closet, not a way out like the boy would've hoped, but maybe a hiding spot if need be. There was another door but it had a sign that said roof access above it so he avoided that for now. _"T__here's a door on each end of this hallway, must be to the stairs or something, since there's no power that means the elevators out". _

Lincoln made his way to the left side stairwell and opened the door, he decided to go all the way down instead of just stopping on a lower floor. He got about halfway down before hearing a door open below, realizing the person would be coming up he opened the door to the third floor. He immediately regretted that decision. As soon as he opened the door he came face to face with Jim.

"Didn't I tell you to stay put?" Jim angrily said. Lincoln quickly turned and opened the door to head back up. _"Maybe there's a fire escape or something, gotta get to the roof". _Jim was right on his tail as Lincoln rushed up the flight of stairs to make it to the roof. Lincoln made it back to the top floor and managed to grab a hold of the handle on the door to the roof, but unfortunately Jim was right on him, and as soon as Lincoln swung the door open Jim grabbed him.

Jim spun Lincoln around and kneed him in his stomach, knocking the wind out of the boy. "I told you there would be hell to pay" Jim ominously said as he stared down at Lincoln, who was on his knees coughing. Jim punched Lincoln across the right side of his face, bringing the boy to the ground before grabbing his shirt collar and dragging Lincoln back inside his room. "cough* No. Get off" Lincoln weakly said as Jim dragged him inside and shut the door. Lincoln tried to turn and shove Jim away but Jim backhanded him down to the ground.

"You gonna cooperate now?" Jim asked. Lincoln responded by trying to throw a punch but Jim just grabbed the boy's hand and twisted his wrist causing him to yelp in pain. Jim pushed Lincoln and he fell on the bed, before he could react Jim was on top of him, pulling at his shirt. "No! Stop it. Get away from me!" Lincoln shouted in vain. Jim punched him in the stomach, causing Lincoln to cease his struggle and allowing Jim the chance to pull Lincoln's shirt off. "You're gonna learn sooner or later that what I say goes!" Jim spat out before he reached for Lincoln's pants. "NO!"

Jim popped the button on his pants and pulled the zipper down, before grabbing Lincoln's wrists and pinning them above his head. "Stop or things are going to get worse for you". Lincoln continued to thrash around beneath Jim, who grabbed his belt and used it to tie Lincoln's hands together behind his back. "Please, stop. Just let me go!" Jim ignored Lincoln's pleas as he reached back down to the boy's pants and pulled them down to his ankles. Tears were starting to form in Lincoln's eyes as Jim began using his hands to roam his body.

Jim violated his body in all manner of ways. He planted his lips on Lincoln's own when the boy tried again to plead with Jim, forcing his tongue inside the boy's mouth and exploring every crevice of it. Lincoln gave out a light moan when Jim found his way to his sensitive nipples. He toyed with the boy until moving southward to remove the last piece of the boy's clothing. Lincoln tried closing his legs when Jim went to touch his privates but Jim easily forced them apart, pulling his underwear down to join the boy's pants.

Lincoln's sobs intensified when Jim started to fondle his half-erect cock. "See you're getting hard, I knew you'd like it". Jim teasingly said. "sniff* Th-that's not true, please just-just stop. I don't want any of this". "Just give it more time and I'm sure you'll find that this feels really good". Jim continued to stroke Lincoln's penis to life as the boy alternated between sobbing and small, unwanted moans.

Jim bent Lincoln's legs and slid a hand down to his ass, slipping a finger into Lincoln's ass. He yelped in pain at the intrusion and pleaded for him to take it out, Jim refused as he added another finger. As Jim kept hitting a spot inside the boy, a small amount of pre-cum began leaking from Lincoln's penis. Jim ran a finger over the tip, smearing some over his finger before roughly shoving it in Lincoln's mouth. "See? That means you're getting close now boy." Jim grinned before bringing his mouth down on Lincoln's member, sucking his dick as Lincoln groaned in response from the stimulation.

Lincoln's mind was racing, he was a complete mess and there wasn't anything he could do to fight Jim off. Like it promised to do, the other side of Lincoln's mind tried to get him to focus on something else. When moments with his family didn't work, images of Ronnie-Anne doing things to him came to his mind. It was better than facing the reality of the situation but not by much, every time Jim hit that one spot Lincoln's mind was forced back to the situation at hand. After a few more minutes, the combination of Jim sucking his dick and fingering his ass brought Lincoln to the edge and he came for the first time in his life.

Jim got off the bed and looked down at the sobbing mess he made of the boy and a small tinge of guilt crept into his mind. He quickly pushed that feeling out of his head as he realized how hard he was. "I tell you what Lincoln, if you take care of me, and I'll let you decide whether to use your hands or mouth to do so, we'll be done for the day. or..." Jim began undoing his pants, letting them drop to the ground before kicking them aside.

"If you don't then I'll do everything I was wanting to do, no holding back". Lincoln could barely register what he was saying, being so out of it after being violated by the man. _**"**__**hhaaa I think I'll take over for this buddy, why don't you go to sleep". **__"Huh?" _The other side of Lincoln's brain took over control and he slowly, on wobbly legs got off the bed. Like a zombie he made his way over to Jim and knelt down, pulling Jim's boxers down and grabbing a hold of Jim's cock.

The part of Lincoln's mind that's usually in control was thrown in some false memory of a time with his family, all laughing and playing in the backyard during a nice summer's day.

* * *

By the time his mind was his own again, Lincoln was fully clothed and back to being chained to the side of the bed. _"Wh-what happened? Why does my head hurt?" __**"Hey..." **__"What happened? Last thing I remember was… oh" _

_**"Yeah. I tried to keep this part of your mind elsewhere but it wasn't working that well in the beginning, I'm sure you remember the parts that you were there for though". **_ Lincoln started crying as the images of that event came pouring back, Jim's hands all over his body, his mouth and he could vaguely recall seeing Jim's own penis. Just then the door opened and Jim stepped in with a tray of food. There was a piece of chicken with some mashed potatoes on the side on it and Jim sympathetically looked over to Lincoln when he looked up at him.

"Hey, did you rest well? I brought dinner up". Lincoln ignored him as he looked out the sliding glass door that led to the balcony. Jim sighed as he walked the tray of food over and set it down on a side table close to Lincoln, when Jim tried to get close, Lincoln flinched and tried to scoot away on the bed. "Don't worry I'm not gonna do anything, well not now anyway". Jim calmly said as he reached for Lincoln's ankle cuff and used the key to undo it.

"Go on and eat, and don't say you're not hungry. I'll force feed you if I have to".

Lincoln looked over to the plate of food and walked over to it, there was part of him that wanted to just throw it on the floor in anger, but another part of him was really hungry. "Can, can I please leave soon?" Lincoln asked, even though he knew better than to expect a good answer.

"You won't be going anywhere anytime soon Lincoln, I'm sorry but I think it's best if you just accept this as your new home. The sooner you accept it the better things will be for you here".

"Why are you doing this? Why me?" Lincoln demanded.

"Because you were there, and you just happen to be unlucky enough to be grabbed by one of my guys. Life's not fair buddy but it's just as simple as wrong place, wrong time". Jim sat down on the bed and opened the nightstand drawer to pull out a magazine, he began reading it while Lincoln started eating.

"I hope you know I'm not going to stop trying to leave".

"yeah… I know, but you're mine now Lincoln, the sooner you accept it the easier everything will be".

* * *

**And so ends Lincoln's first day with Jim's gang. I don't intend to write details about each day he spends with them considering two weeks worth of crap would one: be tough to write and two: be tough to read. So don't expect much more about Lincoln's time with Jim outside of small retellings from Lincoln's memories during his healing process with Richard as he tries to move forward. **

**Anyways, next time we'll check back in with Richard and Lincoln and take a look into Lynn Sr's journey to this point and the Loud's after Lincoln's kidnapping. As always be sure to leave a review or comment and let me know your thoughts. Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and see you next time. **


	3. Separate Journeys

**Hello Everyone, I managed to pull myself away from Xbox long enough to finish this chapter. Now the story will be split between three groups of characters: Lincoln and Rich, Lynn senior's group, and Rita with the kids. I tried to make it easy to follow the timeline between these three groups, but if there's any confusion feel free to ask. **

**Zatch: good question, and I have a simple answer: spoilers. No but seriously all will be revealed in due time, we still have an entire act after this story is done with to round out this trilogy. **

**Anyways without further ado I bring you the next chapter in "Returning Who Was Lost" and as always viewer discretion is advised. **

* * *

**Separate Journeys**

**July 3****rd****, 2019**

** Here Lies Lana Loud…**

Lincoln was on his knees in front of his younger sister's grave, heavy tears flowed from his eyes as his sobs drowned out the sounds of wildlife in the distance. Richard stood a few feet behind him, wondering what he should do next. Richard had swore to bring Lincoln to his family, he promised that they would be alright too, but now this… this isn't what he had in mind. Rich opened his mouth to say something but wasn't able to form any words for the situation before him, no kind, or uplifting words like a normal person would try to give in this moment, he was at a loss.

Richard had only dealt with the deaths of a couple loved ones, and both of them were before this apocalypse, from natural causes. But those deaths didn't affect him like they should have, like they did the rest of his family. He was sad sure, but most of that sadness came from seeing those around him in pain, not the loss itself. Rich didn't know if there was something wrong with him or not, he just knew that he should feel more than he did, but for some reason the emotion just wasn't there. But those emotions were there for Lincoln and Rich felt like an idiot for not knowing a single damn thing to say.

He knew he needed to start somewhere though and tried to get the boy's attention. "Um, Lincoln?" Nothing. Richard sighed as he looked on, thinking on what to do next before Lincoln finally spoke. "ju-just give me a minute… th-then I-I-I want to leave this damn place". Lincoln said bitterly, without bothering to turn towards Richard. Rich looked around and noticed a few walkers making their way over to the pair and decided to take care of them.

Giving Lincoln his space, Richard walked off to kill the walkers, leaving the boy alone with his thoughts. _"I wasn't there. Again. And because of that another one of you__ is__ dead". __**"Don't go blaming yourself for her death, she wouldn't want that and you damn well know it". **__"Still doesn't change the fact that both her and Luan could be alive right now if I was there to help". _

_**"You don't know that idiot, for all you know the people who attacked them could've just as easily killed you and then killed the others anyway. You can't save everyone Lincoln, no matter how hard you try". **_Deep down Lincoln knew that the voice inside his head was right, but he still felt like shit for not being there to do something, he still felt like he failed them.

"Goodbye Lana. I really hope you're in a better place now, but who knows? I've kinda run low on faith these days".

Lincoln stood up from the grave and turned to see Richard finishing off the last of the walkers. Lincoln walked over to him just as Rich stomped on the head of the last walker. Slightly out of breath, he turned to Lincoln, "You good dude?" he sympathetically asked. "No. But I think I will be eventually… Let's just leave". He replied, in the coldest tone he'd used yet.

Richard nodded before continuing. "Well just know that I'm always a listening ear, maybe I don't always say what needs to be said but I'm here". Richard then turned to look back into the town. "I guess we should get a move on, east right? Let's head back through here and we can loot a few buildings before finding the next place to search". Lincoln absentmindedly nodded and the two started heading back into town.

Their slow trek through the town was dreadfully silent, Rich didn't mind silences here and there but this was something else. He attempted to start a conversation but after the first couple tries were in vain he decided to pull out his phone and play some music through it's speakers. "You sure that's a good idea Rich? I don't think we should be drawing attention to ourselves like idiots". Lincoln said, with an annoyed grunt prefacing his statement.

"Geez, fine then I'll turn it down, sorry but I don't like uncomfortably long silences, hell even when I was alone I would talk to myself a bit to alleviate that". Richard turned the volume down and put the phone in his shirt pocket, which also reduced the noise of the device. After ten minutes of walking around the pair saw a convenience store ahead of them and Rich paused the music before they headed inside.

There were a couple walkers inside that the two quickly dealt with before they began to rifle through the small aisles of assorted snack foods and drinks. After taking what was left the two looked over the map to see the possible locations the Loud's could've gone to next. Lincoln told Rich that the family decided against bigger cities after they barely made it out of one, so they looked at small towns and places that could serve as temporary homes.

What the pair didn't know was that the Loud's didn't keep to the 'always east' direction that Rita told Lincoln to head in.

* * *

**June 24th, 2019**

It had been a little over a month since the Loud's have left Lincoln in that town, and only just a week ago when they were attacked on the road and lost Lana as a result. The whole thing started before any of the girls could react, there were two men who rushed out of the woods that surrounded the road the Loud's were on.

Even though they were outnumbered, the two men already had their guns drawn and wasted no time in making sure the Loud's didn't raise theirs in defense. They demanded that everyone slowly hand over their weapons and supplies, but when no one complied, one of the men aimed down the sights of his rifle at Lola. He pulled the trigger and in the same instance, Lana shoved her twin out of the way, taking the shot to her gut instead.

The shooter's friend must've thought he wasn't going to fire because he was just as shocked as the Loud's were. This caused him to lower his gun and gave Luna and Rita the opportunity to shoot the two down without hesitation. Once the two fell dead on the asphalt everyone gathered around Lana as the life was slowly leaving her body. She was unconscious from the shock and Lisa immediately turned her on her side to check for an exit wound.

"Th-the shot w-w-went through… if we stop the bleeding then maybe we can still save her". She said through shaky breaths. She was doing her best to stay calm and collected not just for her own sake, but for her sister's, she needed her medical knowledge and focused mind. "Guys! We got walkers incoming!" Lynn shouted, as she looked behind the group. "No dangit! We need time to take care of her wound or she'll bleed to death right here".

"Then fix her genius, she's counting on you..." Lola began as she looked back at the approaching group of walkers. "We'll hold them off. You just worry about saving our sister!"

Lisa nodded in response as Lola picked up Lana's wrench, determined to fight off these monsters for the sake of her twin. Rita stayed behind to help Lisa, as she had the steadiest hands out of the entire group, in spite of the situation. They took the medkit out and slowly, carefully removed Lana's shirt to have better access to her wound. They didn't know the extent of internal damage but they'd be able to take care of her better once they were safe, their priority was to close the wound before she bled out.

The rest of the girls ran off to take care of the walkers before they could get too close. Up until now, Lola had only killed a couple walkers, and those were mainly with the help of her twin, but Lana needed her now and she wasn't going to let her down. _"Just don't die, I can't lose you too". _Lola got in the front of the group and charged at the walkers, making the first kill before the others joined in. The group avoided using their guns unless it was an emergency and while this constituted as an emergency, the Loud's knew they could handle the amount there was without using their guns, which would only serve to draw in more.

One by one the walkers fell at the hands of the Loud's, they weren't letting a single one get past them. Meanwhile Rita and Lisa had managed to stitch up the entry and exit wound in Lana's gut. "Th-there could still be internal damage of some kind but she should be stable long enough for us to get somewhere safer. We just need to keep a close eye on her and be extremely careful when moving her".

"Th-thank you sweetie. I'm so damn proud of you". Rita pulled her now youngest daughter into her arms and held her close as the others made their way back. "Huff* huff* is she… going to be alright?" Lola worriedly asked. "For now. But I need a safe, quiet place to further examine her condition, she could have complications internally".

"Well that town we're heading to is only like a mile or two away right? So lets get a move on". Ronnie declared. Lynn and Ronnie agreed to carry Lana the rest of the way there and Lisa made sure to stress the importance of cautiously carrying her properly. By the time the group got to the town Lana had started waking up, dazed and in pain. "I know it hurts dear sister but everything is going to be fine, just please try not to move". Lisa quietly shushed her sister as she walked beside her with Lola on the opposite side.

* * *

The group had found a small cathedral in the town and after making sure it was clear, they set up their camp for the day. "m-my stomach huuurrrts". Lana groaned out in pain, with tears falling from her eyes. Her mother and Lola stayed by her side to try and comfort her as Lisa looked through the rest of their medical supplies for anything she could use. "Isn't there like anything you can give her for the pain Lisa?" Leni worriedly asked, seeing her younger sister in pain caused her own heart to swell with hurt.

"Unfortunately other than simple over the counter pain relievers we don't have anything that will do much to ease her pain, if only we had stronger medication from a clinic or hospital". Rita got up to talk with Lisa and see if there was anything they could do to help Lana recover, while Lola stayed by her twin sister's side, holding her hand. Lola figured she would try and get Lana talking to distract her from the pain, hoping that would work.

"Hey, remember that time when I hurt my leg during a pageant rehearsal? And then Lincoln managed to convince you to take my place? I was so mad at the both of you, I thought you'd ruin my career". "Cough* cough* yeah… but I cough* showed you didn't I?" Lana replied through heavy breaths, managing to give out a few light chuckles, which only caused more pain in her stomach. "Yeah heh, you really did. I was surprised by the applause you were getting. You showed me that being prim and proper all the time isn't always the best choice".

"Yet you still act like a beauty snob half the time". "I did say 'all the time' but that doesn't mean I can't be this beautiful some of the time hehehe". Lana began giggling with her twin before starting to cough up blood as her body grew colder and she started shaking. "Lisa! Mom! something's wrong!"

Lisa and a couple of the others rushed over to the table to check on Lana, Lisa ordered everyone to give her space while she looked her over. "I-I-I don't know it could be something internally like I mentioned before, gunshot wounds can cause major complications especially one such as this". "then help her dammit! you're super smart so use that brain and save her". Lola shouted.

"Lola honey calm down, don't stress Lisa out, she's going to do what she can don't worry". Rita shot a concerned glance at her youngest and Lisa had to look away because she didn't want her mother to know what she already knew back on the road: Lana was dead the moment she got shot. There wasn't anything she could do but make her comfortable.

"If she's hemorrhaging internally then I don't know what I'll be able to do but I'll try, mother I need your help. Everyone else clear out".

When it was just Lisa, Lana and their mom, Lisa decided to deliver the bad news. "Lana can you hear me?" she nodded in response. "I'm sorry but I honestly don't think I'll be able to do this, we don't have the right equipment or supplies, I can try but doing so will bring you more pain as a result or..." Lana interrupted her. "It's okay Einstein, I had a cough* feeling it was over the moment I… woke up in pain".

"Lisa what are you saying? There has to be something we can-" "I'm sorry mother but… she's going to die and there's nothing I can do about it, I wanted to tell you two before we informed the others". Lisa replied.

"No… nononono NO! NOT AGAIN!" Rita screamed out as she threw a nearby chair against the wall. "Mom? Whats going on?" Lori asked. "I'm afraid eldest sibling… that there's nothing I can do, I-I don't think Lana has much time left".

"What?...no, no there has to be something you can do! She can't die" Lola shouted. "We don't have what we need here to treat her injuries, and even if we did I know my limits, I'm only four years old dammit and I wouldn't be able to preform the proper surgery to save her". Lisa tearfully replied, even with all of her smarts, she felt powerless.

"Guys?" Lana spoke up.

Everyone gathered around the wooden table that Lana was rested on, Lola took her left hand while Lori held onto her right, their mother was standing over Lana's head slowly caressing her forehead. "It's okay… I'm going to keep Luan company right? someone's gotta take care of chuckles cough* cough*"

"Just stop talking you dummy you need to stop talking so you have more energy to fight. You can't die". Lola said with tears streaming from her eyes. Everyone felt as if another piece of themselves were being slowly ripped from their bodies, but Lola felt like she was losing another half, her better half.

"I'm scared guys, I know that once it's over that I'll be in a better place… with the rest of our family, but I don't want to leave you guys". Everyone was weeping as Lana slowly started to pass, it wasn't too much longer before she was gone. "I love you guys so much". "We love you too" they all said in unison. And just a few moments later, she was gone.

* * *

The Louds buried her in the front of town the following day, finding an auto-body shop nearby and figuring that she'd like that. After saying their last goodbyes, they returned to the cathedral where Rita began writing another letter for Lincoln, which angered Lynn. "Alright enough with those damn letters. He's dead! So stop acting like he's alive and stop acting like you give a damn". She aggressively yelled at her mother. "Don't you dare say that **I **don't care Lynn, he is my only son and I hate myself everyday for that choice but it had to be made for the safety of you girls". Lynn huffed before turning around and getting ready to leave the cathedral. "Then let's head back!" Rita shouted after her, making Lynn stop dead in her tracks.

"I don't know if he's still there or if he's escaped, is… dead. I don't know, but I've had enough of this attitude of yours so let's go back there". All of the sisters stopped what they were doing and looked at one another, not believing their mother was agreeing to head back to that place. Everyone gathered their belongings, they searched through the town for half the day before heading back in the direction they came from to make it back to where they lost Lincoln.

Rita was deep in thought about her recent decision. She just lost another child and now here she was putting the rest of them in harms way. But she had to, because she's regretted her choice to leave Lincoln every single day, its haunted her and she needed to believe that he was still alive out there. _"Oh Lynn, I wish you were here. I feel like I keep failing them..." _

* * *

**Feb 10****th, ****2019**

After leaving the diner, Lynn and the others started heading down the main road in search of the rest of the Louds. After seeing the damage at the diner, Lynn was beyond worried for his family's safety but after a few calming and encouraging words from his good friend Harold, he pulled himself together. They walked along the road for a couple hours before finding a small grouping of houses to take a quick rest at. Chris, a friend they had met at the shelter offered his own two cents about the possible whereabouts of the Loud family.

"Hey guys so I was thinking that, what if your family didn't take the main road when they left that diner? They could've ran into that forest for all we know and they could be anywhere". He said. "Well that may very well be true but I still think that they'd try to find the nearest landmark to make camp and get their bearings. we're bound to find such a place along this road and possibly a map of the area".

"After how hard it was for us to get out of Royal Woods I'm sure Rita will try and stick to smaller locations and towns for safety, we barely made it out of there ourselves". Lynn countered, having faith that his wife knew the best course of action for the rest of his family. Howard was off in another part of the house with Clyde and Lily, searching through the rooms to see if there were any supplies they could take. The day was half over and the group decided to continue down the main road until they found another safe location for rest, they were hoping to find a map so they could start figuring out which direction to start searching for the Louds.

* * *

**May 13****th, 2019**

Lynn sr. held his infant daughter Lily in his arms as he, the McBride's and Chris walked along a state road still in search of the remaining Loud family. It had been over four months since they were forced to leave the safety of the shelter and so far had only turned up one clue on the Loud's whereabouts. After managing to find a map of the area during their first week the group started discussing possible search locations. They searched for two weeks before deciding to go back to the diner when Chris showed them that there was a wilderness park near it.

It took them another week to make it back to the outskirts of Royal Woods where the diner was located and from there they found their way to the park. It was at this point where hope once again filled Lynn Sr. as they found the note that Rita had left for him, informing him of what happened and telling the group to head to West Falls, a nearby town. The group made it to the town before nightfall and began searching, but unfortunately the Loud's had long left the place by the time Lynn's group arrived. They searched the town the following day to see if there was any trace of the family even being there or if there was another note but their search yielded no results, and the group had no idea where to search next. Lynn was scared that he might never see his family again and no matter how many times his friends tried to convince him otherwise he didn't have the strength to believe it himself.

The group began moving from place to place, never staying for more than a day as their search continued. They decided to stick in one direction and work their way around every place they could find in the state of Michigan. They agreed that the Loud's would try and stay within the state borders and started their journey to search the entire state.

Unfortunately for them, the direction they started with was the complete opposite that the Loud's went after leaving the town. Over the course of these four months the group had been lucky to only encounter a few people here and there, with none of them being hostile, just cautious. Not everyone in the group was on board with the way they searched for Lynn's family however, Chris voiced his annoyance on more than one occasion at their constant moving around.

Lynn argued that the longer they waited the more time his family could have to move themselves, he wanted to find them as quick as possible. Eventually they came to an agreement, they would settle down at every other place they searched at, but on Lynn's condition that they don't stay longer than five days. This was enough to have Chris relent in his anger and as time went on the tensions between the two lessened.

The entire time he'd been away from them, Lynn's family was always at the forefront of his mind, he was constantly worried about their well-being. The last thing he knew was that all of them were still alive and no one was hurt but that didn't mean they were alright. Lynn still remembered the note his wife left for him when he arrived at the house. How two men attacked his family and he wasn't there to do anything about it. How they tried to hurt Leni and that Lincoln had killed one of them to protect the family.

Lynn hated himself everyday that he wasn't there to protect them, he felt like a failure and hated that his son had to do what was basically Lynn's job: to protect the family. He can only imagine how they're doing now and what they've had to go through to survive. He was pulled out of his thoughts when Harold alerted the group to a neighborhood coming up, telling everyone to break up and search some of the houses before they settled into one for the night.

Lynn went off with Howard while Clyde, Chris and Harold started searching their own buildings. When they weren't resting Lynn strapped Lily to his back with a harness, it was easier to move around and take care of walkers that way. Lynn and Howard began searching the houses one by one, finding a fair amount of food and various medical supplies throughout their search. They took down a few walkers that were inhabiting the buildings at the time. After a few hours the sun had begun to go down and everyone regrouped at the entrance to the gated community before picking a house to sleep in for the night.

Lynn was sitting on a bed in one of the rooms of the two story house, everyone elected to stay upstairs as there was enough space for everyone. Lily was laying on the bed next to her father as he held his head in his hands. He missed his family, every day he spent without them caused him pain and there was nothing he could do but wander through the state trying to find them. The only comfort he had in this world now were the McBride's and the gibbering Lily happily playing with a toy car on the bed next to him.

Lynn could hardly ever understand her gibberish but there were a few words that he understood, but those words didn't really help his situation any. Lincoln, Lori, the list went on, every time she mentioned another of his kids names was like a dagger to his heart. She missed their family as well and the way the world was now both confused and scared the infant. Lynn didn't know if they'd ever find the rest of their family, but he'd do his damnedest to protect the one child he has left in this cruel world.

* * *

**July 4****th****, 2019**

Richard and Lincoln continued on their journey as they awoke the day after discovering Lana's grave. Lincoln wasn't being himself and Richard didn't like it, he didn't know how to break through this new wall that the boy put up. Richard wished he had the answers on what to do but he didn't, he wasn't too big on helpful advice or words of wisdom, hell he barely even had any wisdom. _"What do you say to someone who's relative died? Sorry for your loss? It will get better in time? They wouldn't want to see you like this?" __**"Well… yeah kinda. That's the gist of what people say stupid". **__ "Not really helping". _

_** "Well just try and talk to him again, everything takes time though Rich and we both know some things take a lot longer to heal than we'd like". **__"Heh, yeah you got that right". _ Richard looked over to Lincoln and went to start a conversation before Lincoln started speaking himself. "I'm fine Rich, I don't want to talk about it". He calmly said. "Was I really being that obvious?" Richard asked with a grin.

Lincoln gave a half smile in response as the pair continued onward, unaware they they were going the opposite way of their quarry. "So have you given any thought into what you'll say to them?" Richard asked.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Lincoln shot Richard a curious glance at the latter's question. "I mean, what are you gonna say to your family when you see them? You just gonna be like 'oh hey guys whats up?' or what?" Richard said as he chuckled. "Oh...no I haven't really given it much thought I guess. I know they're gonna ask questions too, ones I don't think...I'll be able to answer". Richard knew where he was going with that and tried to ease the boy's mind a bit.

"You know they won't judge you right? What happened wasn't your fault and they won't look at you any differently when you tell them. I'm sure they'll be shocked but I doubt it will drastically change things". "yeah but I freaked out after that nightmare I had just from you trying to throw your arm around my shoulder, I can only imagine how I'll feel when they try and hug me. I know they're gonna swarm me as soon as they realize I'm real". Richard thought about this one, Lincoln had a point, physical contact has been an issue, no matter the intention, it hasn't ended well.

"Baby steps Lincoln, the journey of recovery is just that, a journey. Not a sprint but a marathon, a morning walk, we try and deal with things as they come and work through them the best we can. But you shouldn't try to run before learning to walk". Richard could tell he was still worried about the reunion, whenever it did happen, and tried to think of something else to say.

"Just be honest with them Lincoln, they're your family and they'll understand one hundred percent. Like I said, nothing of what happened was your fault and you shouldn't feel like you did something wrong. The people who did that to you did wrong, not you".

Lincoln thought back to those two weeks in the hotel, and Richard was only half right, at least in his mind. "The first two nights were rough, but they didn't compare to everything that came afterwards". Lincoln regrettably decided to open up to Rich about his time there, hoping that Richard would have something to say about it all. Richard just had one thought as he began: _"I hope he doesn't go into too much detail". _"Lets stop up here and rest, I have a feeling this isn't a convo we should be having on the move. And maybe it'd be best if you skimp out on the details ". Richard suggested. The pair walked to the side of the road and sat down in a small clearing before Lincoln continued his story.

* * *

**June 12****th****, 2019**

It was almost noon when Jim came in with a plate of food for Lincoln. Lincoln went to begrudgingly take the plate from his abuser when Jim pulled his hand back at the last second. "I think a trade is in order, I mean food isn't free you know". Jim smiled as Lincoln glared daggers at the man, he knew what Jim was wanting but he wouldn't give it to him. "What happened to forcing me to eat if you had to?" he growled. "Oh I'll force this food down your throat… among other things, but only when it becomes a point of food or death. You don't get to leave here in any way until **I** say so".

Lincoln just crossed his arms as he sat on the bed and looked out the sliding glass door to the balcony. "Well I won't wait forever man, and if I have to force you, then you won't get food in return for it. And besides, we have a system here where people earn points that the-" "Can buy things, yeah the shelter we were at had the same thing..." Lincoln was still looking outside when he felt the sting of pain on his right cheek. "Don't interrupt me again, or I'll do more than a simple punch" Jim said as he kept his left hand raised.

The boy held a hand up to his cheek as Jim started walking back to the chair he had near the bed. "As I was saying, they use the points to buy things. And when we have someone like you here well, lets just say we trade in all manner of things". Lincoln's eyes widened as he realized what Jim was insinuating. "So don't expect me to be the only face you see around here boy". Jim let out a sinister laugh like some corny cartoon villain at the end of his sentence. "If you're nice with me however… lets just say the amount they'll have to pay will be higher than they'll want, and again things won't be as bad for you here".

"I'm not asking to screw you in the ass, well not yet anyway..." Lincoln shuddered in response at the thought of Jim sticking 'that' in 'there' the fingers were already too much for the poor boy. "I'm just asking for a simple blowjob, you know how those work don't you? I gave you one so you can return the favor for some food right?" "No". Jim frowned at Lincoln's response but nonetheless relented and walked out of the room, shutting the door on his way out and leaving the tray of food inside. But of course the food was out of Lincoln's reach.

Jim came back an hour later with a smirk on his face, something that Lincoln was getting real sick of seeing. Every time he saw Jim, he felt queasy and a general sense of unease in the man's presence. "So I just put the word out: starting tomorrow the price per hour with you is halved so expect more than a couple visitors tomorrow". Now Lincoln was on the verge of throwing up, this couldn't be happening, he needed to find a way out of here.

"Now I could make sure the opposite of that happens and you never see any of my other people, but the cost for that deal is higher than a simple BJ." Lincoln let out an audible gulp and against his better judgment he decided to ask. "What?"

"Everything. You give me the best time of my life and I'll make sure you're never bothered by any of my other people. But say no one more time and this will be the last deal I try to make with you". _**"Just do it. Honestly he's going to do these things anyway and then his men will do the same, maybe worse". **__"I told you already I can't and don't you dare take over like last time, I can't believe you did that". __**"**__**I**__**t was for your best interest, ours. And look what happened as a result, you got a nice hot meal and he left you alone for the rest of the day". **_

_ "No, I'm not going to give this creep what he wants, he'll have to take it". __**"**__**T**__**hen that's exactly what he's gonna do". **_"No". Jim sighed in defeat before he slowly stalked over to the spot Lincoln was sitting on the bed. "I'm going to have you asking for it, just you wait". And with that Jim slapped Lincoln before sitting on the boy's chest. Lincoln protested and tried to move his arms but they were pinned to his sides by Jim's legs. Jim undid his pants and pulled his cock out, a mere inches away from Lincoln's face.

It was the worst ten minutes of Lincoln's twelve year old life, but to him it felt like an eternity. By the time the bastard finally came, Lincoln's jaw was sore and he felt sick. "I'd get some rest… you're gonna need it for tonight". Lincoln was now more worried than before as his mind began to imagine all the things that comment could entail. Lincoln silently cried as Jim left the room, Lincoln swore that he'd kill that man one day. _**"**__**W**__**hat happened to not wanting to be a killer huh?" **_

Lincoln ignored the voice as he continued to weep, Lincoln didn't like that he wanted to kill him but that didn't change the fact that it was how he felt. If anyone was most deserving of death it'd be Jim, and Lincoln would make sure it happened.

Later that night Jim returned to the room he kept Lincoln chained up in. Lighting some candles for added light and ambiance, Jim took off his shirt before addressing Lincoln. "Now here's how this is going to go down, I'm going to do whatever I want with you tonight, and tomorrow, anyone who wants a shot at you will get one. I hope you're ready for this". _**"Ha who could be ready to be raped? What an asshole". **_

Jim took off the rest of his clothes before walking over to the bed. Lincoln scooted as far back as he could but Jim pulled the chain attached to Lincoln's leg and brought the boy to him. Lincoln managed to land a couple hits with his fists before Jim lost his patience and returned the hits. It wasn't long before Jim removed Lincoln's clothes and had the boy pinned against the bed face down. "I tried to give you the easy way, but you wanted to make things hard, so this is your reward for that". "Please stop! don't!" Lincoln shouted out.

Jim ignored him as he spat on his dick before lining it up with Lincoln's anus. He slowly began inserting his rod as Lincoln begged him to stop, yet to no avail. It was a minute before Jim was fully sheathed inside Lincoln who was now a sobbing mess, Jim leaned close to Lincoln's ear and whispered. "How does it feel to have a man's dick inside you huh boy? I'm sure I'll have you begging for it after tonight". Jim said as he slowly began moving back and forth. The whole affair felt like hours but in reality Jim finished inside the boy after ten agonizing minutes, he ignored the small amount of blood that came out of the boy when he pulled out. "Well how was your first time?" Jim asked.

Lincoln was a shaking mess on the bed, he ignored Jim's question, his eyes glassed over and his dead stare into space signaling that he wasn't up for anything at the moment. His tears had dried up and his sobs had turned to quiet whimpers. "Hm maybe I went a little overboard". _**"I'll fucking show you overboard. Asshole". **_The other half of Lincoln's mind was still active even as his other side was somewhere completely different. Lincoln's whole world was just ripped to pieces and he felt lower than he did when his sister Luan had died.

One thing was sure after Jim was finished with him, the boy would never be the same again.

* * *

**Present day**

"sniff* that was just the first t-two days". Lincoln said as he wiped his nose. "Fuck man, no one should ever have to go through something like that, let alone a kid". Richard wiped the few tears that had came as a result of Lincoln's account of his time with Jim. "Look I don't know what to say to any of that except that its all over and done with. He's dead and you're still here, alive in spite of that asshole. You survived what they did to you and you'll eventually get past this, you'll get to a point where things will be, I don't know, good. A place where things are stable and you feel at ease".

"I don't know how long it will take to get from here to there, but trust me when I say that you will get there". Richard shifted uncomfortably in his spot as he tried to hide the shameful erection he got from Lincoln's story. He felt disgusted with himself. He shouldn't have this reaction and he hated that a part of him wanted to hear more. Lincoln noticed his state of agitation and was about to question why before realizing he just told a pedophile about being raped, and now the same sense of unease he felt with Jim was creeping back.

Richard was trying to think of something else to say, something to help Lincoln in the here and now instead of just telling him he'll get there eventually. The nearby groaning of walkers interrupted his thoughts however and the pair turned to see a small group heading in their direction. "Tell ya what, lets have some fun, I think we could use the distraction". Rich said as he motioned towards the walkers. "Let's see who can take out more, winner gets bragging rights" A small smile formed on Lincoln's face as he wiped his remaining tears and the two got up to take care of the approaching dead.

* * *

**September 2****nd****,**** 2019 **

The Louds were on their way to a new destination: Haven. The group saw a street sign with the name and offering of sanctuary a week back.

After Lana's death, the group headed back where they came from to try and find Lincoln. They made it back to the town only to see the hotel they tried to sneak into was burned to the ground. Only a large pile of rubble and ash remained. "No… why can't one damn thing go right for us!?" Lynn jr. shouted in annoyance. "Maybe Lincy did this himself? Like maybe he got away. I mean we didn't see his backpack at the campsite when we passed it on the way here". Leni suggested. "Don't be stupid Leni, someone could've just as easily taken it themselves".

"Don't call her stupid Lynn, she's just saying it could've happened. I mean you know how tough the little dude got since all this began. and besides who would want a pack filled with only comics, and a stuffed rabbit?". Luna said. Lynn balled her fists in anger. _"These idiots. Their all just in denial, he's gone and they need to realize that. We left him here to rot and now he's gone". _Without any evidence on the matter the girls decided to leave the dreaded town once more. After leaving the town the group looked at the map to pick their next destination, they had no sense of direction after recent events and they absentmindedly wandered around the state in search of a place to settle down.

A couple weeks after they left the town is when they saw the first sign for Haven, and everyone agreed to give the place a shot, seeing as they had no better options. The group had been following the signs that were leading them to what they hoped would finally be a new permanent home for a week now.

After walking half the day, the group had finally set Haven in their sights. They could see a wall constructed with various metals and building supplies, and could see the tops of some of the houses from where they were. The Louds have seen places like this a couple times before, but they never lasted too long, they hoped this would be different. As the group got closer to the main gate they were told to stop where they were by a guard on the top of the wall.

He asked that they hold their hands up and they would be let inside the gate for processing. The Louds looked to each other and agreed to follow the guard's request. The gate slowly slid open and the Louds walked inside, hoping they were finally able to rest. Once inside they were greeted by a burly looking man who looked to be in his early forties, although by the small amount of white hair on his head they assumed he could be older. He was wheeling a cart up to the group and informed them that all new arrivals must relinquish their guns. "You'll get them back once we feel we can trust you, you can keep your various other weapons, the knives and what not but the guns stay with us for now". The Louds were hesitant to hand over their guns but then the group looked around the settlement. They saw young kids running around and laughing, like there wasn't an apocalypse going on outside the walls.

The place looked like a friendly suburban neighborhood and the fact that people could walk around like everything was normal was enough to convince them to play by the rules for now. One by one the girls handed over their guns, while keeping their clubs, knives and other melee weapons on their person.

"Thank you, my name's Wade and let me be the first to say welcome to Haven!" the man, now known as Wade, cheerfully said to the Louds as he started the tour of the sanctuary.

* * *

**And there you have it, the Loud girls have made it to Haven, while Lynn and the McBride's search is more directionless than Lincoln and Richard's. Will either group find their loved ones? And how will the Louds fit in with the community of Haven? Tune in next chapter to find out. I should have the next chapter out within the next couple weeks. **


	4. Separate Journeys pt2

**Hello all and welcome to a new chapter. This ones a bit shorter than I had previously intended but still manages to go through a good amount. I recently realized one stupid error that I've made in my story and have yet to correct it. In my first story I kept the Loud's ages the same when I actually should have changed a few of them. I'm going to go back at some point and change them in that story but for now I'll list them off here. **

**As of the Oct. 10th scene in this story the ages are as follows: Lori-19, Leni-18, Luna-16, Lynn-14, Lincoln-12, Lucy-8, Lola-7, Lisa-5, Lily-2.**

**Now these ages are based off of birthdays I've made up on my own since there isn't any canon birthdays that I know of. So a couple could be older based off of that after the date I specified. This is just the most current date that we know these remaining Loud children are alive, as for who will stay that way, well, spoilers. Now without further ado I bring you the next chapter in Returning Who Was Lost. hope you all enjoy. **

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing from the Loud House **

* * *

**Separate Journeys pt. 2**

**October 26th, 2019**

Richard and Lincoln had gone as far east as they could, checking every possible location they could think of and turned up nothing. Richard asked Lincoln if he thought his family would've left the state, but he didn't think they would. "Well if they didn't head out of state then that means they stopped with the whole always east thing. They could be anywhere". Richard pulled out the map and the two boys looked over it to see the areas they covered already and the ones they haven't. There was still a lot of ground to cover if they were going to search the entire state, but if that search still yielded no results then they didn't know what they'd do.

"I guess lets head back, we can make a stop by the bunker for a little bit and rest up before searching the rest of the state. Sounds good to you?" Lincoln nodded back without enthusiasim in response. "Don't go giving up hope or anything, I promised to bring you back to them and I always keep good on my promises". Richard said, hoping that Lincoln still believed and trusted in him.

"Yeah I know Rich, its just a matter of time is all. I just hope we find them sooner rather than later". Fall was almost over with and the two knew that winter would make it hard for the duo in their search. They had discussed the situation and Lincoln reluctantly agreed with Richard that once Winter hit in full force that they would stay at the bunker until it was was cleared up. They only had a couple months left before the weather would force them to halt their search.

"Hey!" the two turned to see a man and woman pointing their guns at them. Surprisingly enough these two were the first people Rich and Lincoln had seen since they left the family at the town in the beginning of their journey. "Let me guess, you want our stuff or you'll shoot us?" Rich sarcastically asked. The older man pulled the hammer back on his revolver to strengthen his point. "Well there's enough to go around so let me just take some stuff out for you two and we'll be on our way".

"No. We want it all. Toss those packs over here or I'll shoot the boy first then you". The older man wasn't in the mood for any trades and wanted everything the two had, but Rich wasn't too keen on that idea. "Listen man, me and the kid need stuff too ya know, so why don't I just give you some of our stuff and then we can all go our merry way. Trust me when I say that you aren't getting everything".

The stranger fired at the ground in front of Richard and threatened that the next one wouldn't miss. Lincoln looked to Rich, he knew Rich could easily draw on these two but since Rich didn't want to be that guy anymore their choices were limited. Even so, Lincoln could see the look in Richard's eyes, he was wanting to pull that gun, he even had a small smile on his face.

Richard let out a long sigh as he threw his hands up in the air, one of which was still holding his staff. He used his left hand to slide his weapons off and start undoing the straps of his packs. Richard motioned for Lincoln to do the same and he threw down his gun and packs in the same spot Richard had thrown his stuff. The stranger ordered his partner to get the bags and just as she got within reach of them Richard made a move. "Fire now!" He called out, to who Lincoln didn't know but it was enough to cause everyone to look ahead.

When the two people trying to rob the pair turned around Richard moved close to the woman, using his staff to sweep the legs out from under her and wrestle her gun away before the man could react in time. Richard fired a shot and it hit the man in his right leg, he screamed out in pain as the bullet went through the layers of muscle in his thigh and he dropped to the ground. Richard grabbed the man's gun and made his way back to Lincoln who was stunned at what just transpired.

"Coulda just left well enough alone. Just take what we were gonna give you and walk away. But no. people are always trying to be greedy assholes and wonder when bad shit happens in return". Richard started as he circled their supplies on the ground. "Now you're gonna have to limp away, but… you won't be doing so empty handed". Lincoln was confused at what he meant by that, surely Rich wasn't still going to give them anything. Richard opened up his duffle bag and took out some bandages among a couple other medical supplies.

He threw the supplies to the pair of would be robbers before continuing with his talk. "Take that and go, I'm going to give you your guns back… but the ammo will be waiting for you at that small shack over there. Wait for us to be long gone before going to it though. Otherwise, the next shot will be fatal". Richard then zipped up his bag and threw it, his backpack and weapons back on before turning and walking away.

"Maybe think about diplomacy before being an ass, you never know what will happen. People could surprise you". Lincoln quickly picked up his own stuff and followed Richard as the woman started treating her partner's gunshot wound.

Once the two were far enough away Richard let out a breath of relief. "I really didn't think that'd work, holy shit". Richard was breathing in and out, trying to calm himself down after the surprisingly deathless standoff. "I mean honestly, they got the drop on us, usually I'm more aware but I guess I was just lost in my thoughts. That could've been a lot worse. I'm still surprised they fell for that stupid distraction".

"Why did you just give them those supplies? What if they come back now and don't waste time before just shooting us!?" Lincoln hysterically asked. "I said I was trying to change Lincoln, maybe be someone better. Better than who I was before this outbreak, and definitely better than after". "Well being _that_ good will just lead to you getting shot in the back Rich. People have changed, the world has changed and while you don't always need to kill, helping the people trying to kill you is just stupid".

Richard just smiled down at him before pulling out his phone and shuffling his music once again. "I was always a stupid person Lincoln, but that fool once believed he could change people, and I miss being that optimistic fool". **_"We just got attacked and he's going to play music? No, he's not just a fool, he's an idiot". _**

"Didn't you just say they got the drop on us because you were lost in thought? How are you gonna hear anyone else trying to do the same if you have music blaring through that thing?" Richard shrugged as he said "One, it's not _that_ loud and two, I got good at listening to multiple things at once, I can focus on one thing and have the other as background noise. It works most of the time".

"I don't think I'll ever understand you" Lincoln dismissively said. "Hey welcome to my world". Richard cheerfully replied.

The two continued on the road as they moved to their next destination.

* * *

**October 10****th****, 2019**

"Aaaahhhhh"

"You think everything is alright in there? She sounds like she's really in pain". Leni asked from outside the medical building in Haven. "Well Leni, our eldest sister is giving birth to new life in there. I've studied enough on the subject to know that it's no easy ordeal". Lisa replied. "Well if it hurts that much then I don't know if I even want to have kids".

Lori had gone into labor early in the morning and it was now past noon as she was still in the emergency room with Dr. Johnson and a couple nurses in training. When the doctor discovered that Lori was pregnant, he was happy to have the chance to put his new training to good use as he had been studying other fields of medicine since he was the only doctor currently at Haven. A half an hour later and Rita came out of the house the clinic was set up in.

All of her children immediately swarmed her as they asked about Lori's condition and if everything was alright. The newborn crying from within the building was the only answer they needed as all the girls squealed in excitement. They were about to rush the door but Rita got in their way as she warned them to keep it down and be careful. They nodded in response and she let them into the room where Lori was holding her baby in her arms.

They gathered around the bed Lori was laying in and Lola was the first to break the silence in the room, asking the question that was on all of their minds. "Well?" she said as everyone turned towards her. "Don't keep us in suspense, is it a boy or girl?" Lori smiled at the group of girls before glancing back down at her baby. "He's literally a beautiful baby boy". Tears of joy sprang from her eyes as she looked at her newborn.

"Does the little dude have a name yet?" Luna asked. "I'd been thinking about that a lot these past couple months, and I've gone back and forth between a few". Lori and Bobby never really talked about kids, or their future much, so she didn't really know what he would've liked. Then she thought about the names that she liked and thought of ones for both genders, but she still couldn't settle on one. After finally seeing her child face to face though, she realized the name that just made sense.

"Bobby… Bobby Lynn Loud". Rita let out a small gasp as she held a hand over her mouth, and Ronnie's eyes started to well up with tears at the mention of her brother's name. "O.M.G. that's like the best name. Little Bobby Junior!" Leni squealed with excitement. The group let out a light chuckle as Bobby jr. opened his eyes to see a lot of new people. The people he'd soon come to know as family.

The girls got gathered closer around the bed as they noticed the cute new baby was awake, they each wanted a turn with their nephew. "Girls, one at a time please, we don't want to scare the little guy". Rita nervously said.

A knock at the door made Rita turn her attention away from the swarming aunts to get the door. She opened it to see a close friend she had made since arriving in Haven, her first real friend here. "Hi Meredith. let me guess, came to see the baby?" Meredith nodded. "I didn't want to intrude, I just wanted to make sure everything went okay?" Rita smiled at her friend before quietly shutting the door and stepping out into the hall. "Yes everything went fine. Lori is obviously exhausted and all the girls are trying to get a hold of their nephew. You wanna come join us?"

"No this is your family's moment, I don't want to intrude". Meredith responded. "Oh nonsense, come on".

* * *

It had been about a month since the Loud family had arrived in Haven. And after the first week, they realized that this would be different than the other times they tried to make a home like this. After Wade gave them a quick tour of the settlement, he gathered the other members of a council that he was a part of. The council was comprised of five members: Wade Wallace, Catherine Hall, George Terrance, Heather Jackson, and Steve Hartwell.

These five people were in charge of all the major decisions in Haven and new members have to talk to at least one of them before being allowed to live there. Since there were nine people in the Loud's group, Wade figured it'd be best to get the council together and speed things up. Everyone was interviewed separately and once the council agreed that they were clear, Steve showed the family the home they'd be staying in from now on. The house was two doors down from Steve's own home that he shared with his wife Meredith and her daughter Jennifer. Even though Jennifer was thirty-one, it was easier for her to stay with them since there were only so many houses left.

The town was in the process of expansion and more houses were being built to accommodate the growing number of residents.

Luckily for the Louds there was a recently built two story house that was big enough to fit all of them, so long as they shared rooms once more. There were four rooms on the second floor and one on the first, Rita took the one downstairs while the girls divided themselves between the others. Lori and Leni shared a room once again, same with Lynn and Lucy, Lola bunked with Lisa since both of their former roommates were gone, and finally Luna shared one with Ronnie-Anne.

The family finally felt a small sense of normalcy coming back to them after being on the road for so long. It had been ages since any of them had a proper warm meal or shower, and they couldn't have been happier to have made it here. Having these simple everyday things brought back into their lives almost made them forget that things had gone to hell almost a year ago. The only thing that was missing were the people they lost on their way here.

* * *

**November 13****th****, 2019**

Lynn and the others had been on the road for so long and had found nothing, no clues, no notes, no idea on the whereabouts of the Loud family. The one note they found told them to go to some town that the family was already long gone from, and the group had no idea what direction they left in. They had just arrived in another small town and Chris started a vote for them to stay there for a few days at least, everyone else agreed. There was very little walker presence in the town so Lynn decided to stray from the group and take a small walk with his daughter Lily.

Lynn held Lily in his arms as he walked around the town, taking in the nice evening air while also keeping an eye out for anything useful. He was walking around the front of the town when he saw a cross stuck in the ground near an automotive shop. As he got closer he wished that he would've stayed with everyone else. The loud scream echoed through the town and the rest of the group came running to find Lynn kneeling in front of a grave. When they saw the name their jaws dropped, and Harold let out an audible gasp.

Lynn was knelt in front of Lana's grave, sobbing heavily as his daughter soon joined him. Lily may have been only a couple years old but she knew something bad happened if her father was crying like this.

Lynn wasn't the same after seeing his daughter's grave, the rest of the day he was distant with the rest of the group. Chris was fine with that but the McBride's were scared for their friend, they were trying to find the right words to say but nothing seemed to be working. Harold didn't know what he'd do if they lost Clyde, but Lynn has lost more than one child now, and with the others still missing it was like he had no one but Lily.

After the discovery of Lana's grave, the group made a camp inside the same cathedral Lynn's family stayed in months before them. The sun had just started to set and the group was setting up their sleeping arrangements for the night. To their surprise the front door opened and a family of four stumbled inside. The middle aged man held his gun up in defense for his family but Howard managed to calm him down, when he showed that they meant them no harm. The man and wife had two boys with them and asked if they could share the cathedral with the group for the night.

Chris was hesitant to let them stay as they didn't know anything about these people, for all they knew the group could wake up to all their stuff being gone. But after some insistence from the others he relented and walked over to his little corner and prepared to go to bed. After introductions Lynn decided to take a chance and ask the family about something.

"so John was it? Have you guys been on the move a lot? I was wanting to know if you've seen others out there, possibly a big family with mostly girls and one boy?" John shook his head in response telling him of the few people they have encountered. "We haven't really seen any families on the road, just a few people here and there, some who have tried to hurt us..." then his wife cut in to tell them of the two men they met a few months back. "Some have helped us out though, remember that nice man and his kid? I think their names were Richard and… Lincoln".

"Wait did the kid have white hair!?" The wife nodded in response. "Oh my god, how did he look? Was he alright? Who was this guy he was with!?" Lynn asked one question after the other, not even giving the couple the chance to respond. "Lynn calm down and let them actually answer". Harold cut in. "Lincoln is Lynn's son, and last we knew he was supposed to be with the rest of Lynn's family. We got separated and have been trying to find them ever since".

The couple were surprised to hear this news, they figured that Richard and Lincoln were related or something, since it was just the two of them, maybe brothers or something. "It was months ago that we saw them, he looked fine by the way. The man that he was with, Richard, he was so kind to us. He gave us food and medicine for our boy. I don't know why he wasn't with the rest of your family but I think he's in good hands with whoever this Richard guy is".

"Where did you see them? I know it's been awhile but maybe we can pick up some trace of them or something". Howard got the map from his pack and the couple showed them the location of the town they found the two boys in and the direction they were heading in.

It was getting late so the two groups went to bed while Lynn offered to stay up and keep watch, he couldn't sleep after finally hearing some good news about his family. He needed that news after discovering the fate of one of his daughters.

Once morning hit, Howard asked if the new family wanted to tag along with them but they kindly declined the offer. "We are actually heading out of state, my wife has family further east and we are heading up there to try and find out if they're alright". The two groups went their separate ways and Chris voiced his annoyance at having to leave again when they just got settled in yesterday.

"Chris this is the first news we've heard about Lynn's family in months..." Harold began before coming closer to him and whispering. "And after what we found yesterday, I figured you'd at least have the heart to help him follow a lead on his family like this as soon as possible". Chris grumbled in response before packing up his stuff as the group made off for the town the family was kind enough to show them.

* * *

Unfortunately for them, said town didn't really offer any clues as to the whereabouts of Lincoln, or the Loud family. They were about to set off in the direction that the family told them to but Chris argued that they had been on the road for too long and should take a break for a few days. "They said it was months ago that they saw Lincoln, for all we know they could've went in another direction already, lets just stay here for a few nights and then we'll head out. We sh-" "I've had enough of your goddamn bitching Chris!" Lynn lashed out.

"My family is out there and now I find out that my only son isn't even with them anymore and is with some stranger! The more time we spend just sitting on our asses is the more time I'm not with my family". Chris stood there in silence as Lynn laid into him with his pent up anger. "If you don't like how I want to do things then just leave. We don't need you here if all you're gonna do is complain all the time". "You're right, screw this. I'd probably be better on my own anyway".

Chris then turned and started walking away from the group as the McBride's just stood there in silence during the whole exchange. Lynn turned and started walking down the road in the direction that Lincoln and Rich left in months back, with the McBride's following close behind him. "I've never seen Mr. Loud get angry like that, is he alright?" Clyde asked his dads.

"He's just worried about his family honey. We'd probably be the same if anything ever happened to you. But don't worry about him, once we find his family I'm sure he'll be back to his old self". Howard told him.

* * *

**October 31st, 2019 **

Lincoln and Richard continued heading back the way they came, stopping in locations they haven't searched yet as they did so. They planned on making a pit stop at the bunker before planning on their next route and a few miles out from the suburban location of Rich's home. The pair were coming up on a small neighborhood that Richard had once passed through and figured they'd search around a bit for supplies and possible clues on Lincoln's family.

"So I've noticed that the last few nights have seemed peaceful for you… are you doing good? Any issues?" Richard asked Lincoln in a sympathetic tone. Richard had come to view Lincoln as a little brother in the time they've had together and hoped that he was doing right by the boy. "yeah, I mean there's still things I'm trying to work through but I've been getting better. I'm trying to do as you said and move forward. Sometimes though it's… hard"

"That's what she said, hehehe". Richard stopped laughing after seeing Lincoln's unamused face. "Sorry. But that's why I'm here Lincoln, for when things get hard. I know I don't always know what to say but just getting this stuff out there helps. Trust me".

Lincoln let out a sigh before speaking up. "Yeah but Rich its also kinda hard to talk to… _you _about these issues. For multiple reasons. Don't think I don't notice your little _reactions_ the few times I've told you about the hotel". Richard blushed a bit and felt a renewed sense of shame and disgust with himself. He was wanting to help Lincoln with his trauma but Lincoln was right, there's multiple reasons why he might not be the best person to do that. "I'm sorry… I try not to, you know… get like that but it can be difficult. Anytime I get like that I feel sick, something I thought I was done with but apparently not. Even the less descriptive accounts you've given of your time there have set me off and I hate myself for it".

"I should be stronger than that but I guess I'm not, I'm just some sick pervert who can't really help when someone needs him the most. There have been so many times in life that I've failed, but with you, I hoped things could be different". Rich was now wracked with guilt at having failed Lincoln until he spoke up.

"Listen Rich, don't think you're a failure or anything, you have helped me and while there may still be things I need to work on and figure out for myself, I feel like I actually can because you got me to that point." Richard smiled down at him before Lincoln continued. "Sure sometimes I'm creeped out by you because of _that_ but you set me on a path to facing my fears and I don't know if I'd feel as _alright_ as I do now without you". After their little heart to heart, the two continued onward as they made it to their destination.

After searching through the first house they came across, Richard got a chill up his spine. He felt like there was someone watching them and while he didn't want Lincoln to worry, he informed him so they had another set of eyes on the lookout. Once the two had gone through a couple other houses Richard definitely felt like someone was following them, it could've just been a walker or animal or something but Richard felt a sense of dread creep up on him like he hasn't before.

Sure enough, after searching though the last house in the neighborhood, Richard saw someone on the road a ways in front of them. Richard kept a tight grip on his staff but hovered his other hand just a few inches above his pistol. The pair of boys were started when they heard whistling behind them.

They turned to see another man creep his way around the back of a house with some type of rifle his in his hands. They heard more whistling as more men appeared on all sides, now Richard was worried, this wasn't like the hotel, they were exposed and surrounded on all sides by armed men. Richard nonetheless readied his carbine and aimed it at the man coming from around the back of the house.

"Guys, we don't want any trouble here, we'll give you some supplies so long as we can walk away in peace. No one needs to die here, we shouldn't be fighting each other when the dead are the real enemy".

"We're all dead partner, everyone's just livin on borrowed time trying to survive day to day. Now why don't you do the smart thing and put that gun on the ground, Its like you said: No one needs to die here". The man on Richard's right spoke. Rich thought about it for a moment, there were six men, who seemed to be well organized and even if Rich took one of them out, he doubted that he could take all of them. He felt it best to play along for now and wait for a better opportunity, he didn't want to but he realized that killing might be the only way out of this.

Richard whispered to Lincoln "Best do what he says for now, wait for an opening". Lincoln nodded in response and dropped his gun on the ground along with Richard. The men got closer and when the one coming from behind the pair was close enough, Richard turned to try and wrestle the man's gun away and maybe use him as a shield while he took out the others. As soon as he grabbed onto the man's rifle however he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head and he began seeing stars. His vision started fading to black as he heard Lincoln begin calling his name before hearing another thud and passing out.

* * *

**Uh oh, things don't look good for Rich and Lincoln. who are these men and what do they want? well we'll have to wait and see. I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and I'll see you again in about a week or two with another one. Be sure to leave a comment or review and let me know what you think or ask any questions. **


	5. A New Beginning

**Hello Boys and girls. Today I bring you not one but two new chapters. I have been debating which one to put first but finally settled on this one coming first. Just a small Richard centric chapter to see the start of the apocalypse for him and a small peek into his life before saving Lincoln. I'm putting up the second chapter an hour or two after this one goes up. just gotta make some final edits. Anyways enjoy the chapter. **

* * *

**A New Beginning**

**January ****5****th****, 2019 **

Today was the first day in Richard's vacation from work and like always, he had nothing planned. He had made a list the week beforehand on all the games he needed to play through and the shows he planned on binge watching, but didn't know where to start. Richard woke up around seven in the morning and looked through the list on his phone to see what he would take care of first. His mind began to wander and that wasn't always a good thing so he got out of bed, not caring to change out of his night clothes and turned on his Xbox.

Looking at the first thing on his list he quickly booted the game up and tried to lose himself in the distraction, lest today be another one of _those _days. Richard's addled mind always liked to cause him problems throughout the day and Richard did his best to focus on something so his jumbled thoughts didn't beat him into the ground. After a few hours on the game Richard decided to take a small break and look online for stupid videos while he ate some breakfast. While looking at the various videos recommended on the main page, there were a couple that caught Rich's eye.

There were news report videos talking about some new pandemic sweeping through the country, the dead were rising. _"Heh yeah right, this is an interesting hoax… but why is every single news outlet doing this? And there's more than one type of video being shown between them all too...". _Richard decided to look deeper into what he still thought was some big stupid joke.

After an hour of searching through articles and videos, both from news outlets and first hand accounts, Rich knew this was something else. It was around noon when Richard tried to get a hold of his mom, wondering what she thought of the situation and if this was actually happening. The thought both excited and worried him, he always wanted to do more with his boring life and now the chance might be knocking at his door. After a few rings, his mom answered her phone, "Hello?" "Hey mom, have you seen the news recently? At first I thought this was some joke or something but now I'm not sure".

"I was actually about to call you myself, I just started seeing the stories ten minutes ago and thought the same thing. But then your sister called and she's saying that things are going crazy at the station". Richard's sister worked at the local sheriff's office and was the first in the family to hear about the outbreak. "So, this isn't a joke? Are we really in the beginning of some zombie apocalypse?" Richard asked with excitement.

"Well don't sound so enthusiastic about it dear, don't think this will be like the walking dead or anything. This is real. I think you should grab your stuff and head down here, I'm going to call your brother next and make sure he's alright". Rich's mom was worried her son was going to treat this as some dumb game or something, he had recently told her how bored he was with everyday life but hoped that he would take this seriously. "Yeah I'll grab my guns and some other supplies and head down there right now, I'll try and take the back roads since the main ones are no doubt blocked up". Rich replied, this time trying to sound more 'normal' well as normal as he could be these days. "Alright honey, be safe. I love you". "Love you too".

Richard quickly got dressed and threw half of his clothes in a backpack, then he went to his closet and grabbed the safe he had on the top shelf. He set the safe down on the bed and opened it up, grabbing his .45 pistol and .22 revolver. He set the revolver down on his bed and left a note for his roommate, telling him to take it and thanking him for the years of friendship and accepting who he was. He then stuffed the boxes of ammo he had into his bag and zipped it up, before grabbing his staff and sai from the back of his closet. _"Alright I'm good on weapons, time for food and water, can't forget the few bottles of pills in the bathroom either"._ After shoving everything in his car, Richard did one last check to make sure he wasn't forgetting anything.

After thinking on it, Richard figured he'd grab some personal items, just in case this wasn't something that would quickly blow over. He grabbed the photo album he kept and a few other items of sentimental value before heading back outside to his car. He put the vehicle in reverse and pulled out of the lot, trying to think of the quickest way to his mom's house since there would no doubt be heavy traffic. Richard took a few back roads and found that the traffic was still bad, it would be a bit before he made it. _"Wonder what we're gonna do after everyone gets together, I heard mention of those shelters that were strangely set up just in time for this outbreak but who knows how many spots those places have". _

Rich was now in stop and go traffic as he sat annoyed in his car, he wanted to be at his mom's already, he was prepared for something like this, and excited by it, but she wasn't. He stressed whether she was still safe or not, he hoped that he got there in time and everyone made it safely back. He was pulled out of his worry when he heard a scream coming from the distance. Looking out the driver side window, Rich saw a kid being chased by a walker on the sidewalk, couldn't have been more than ten years old. The kid tripped on an uneven part of the sidewalk and the walker was getting closer, and not a single damn person was getting out of their car to do anything.

Rich put the car in park and stepped out of his car, aiming his pistol at the walker, he lined up the shot and fired. The walker dropped dead in front the boy, who turned around to see Richard waving him over. Some of the other drivers were now frightened by Richard but he didn't care, traffic wasn't moving and the kid needed help, he wasn't just going to do nothing.

The kid made it over to Richard who asked if he was alright and he nodded in response. "What's your name? Do you have any family nearby?" "My name's Tommy, and yeah, my house is just over there, I was walking home from the park when that thing tried to get me".

"Well do you think you can make it on your own?" Tommy nodded in response and thanked Richard before running back in the direction of his home. _"Huh, that felt really good, didn't even stare at the kid either so double plus. Sigh* back on track I guess" _Before getting back in his car Richard could hear more screams in the surrounding area and cries for help, and even though he could hear the emergency sirens nearby, he felt like he should do something. _**"And what about your family there. You just gonna leave them? They'll need your help too ya know". **_

_"Yeah, right best get back to it". _Richard hopped back in his car just as the traffic was slowly starting to move. After an extremely slow couple of miles however Richard saw some people a few cars ahead of him leave their vehicle and run with their bags. Now he'd have to try changing lanes to keep moving forward, he looked in his rear-view mirror to see others abandoning their cars and knew that he might have to do the same soon. _"And now more people are leaving, dammit. Alright lets see what I can carry and hurry up out of here". _

Richard grabbed his bag and made sure to take whatever else he could, not wanting to leave too much behind. The person behind him beeped their horn but Richard ignored them as he made his way over to the sidewalk and started walking. He sent his mom a message telling her he had to ditch the car, but that he was still on the way. She responded, letting him know his brother and nephews were also safe and gathering supplies at their house. His sister was also doing the same at her house and everyone planned on meeting at her house before heading to the shelter.

As he hurried down the various streets and roads to get to his mom's house, Richard could see and hear more people in need of help. _**"I know what you're thinking Rich and I don't really agree, helping those people will just slow you down". **__"I can't just ignore them though, that's not me. I'm gonna regret __it later by __just doing nothing". _

_**"One: you already saved that kid back there, you did your good deed for the day. And two: the cops can help these people, you don't need to be this hero you're trying to be". **__"Yeah but that's what I've always wanted to be, a hero. I wanted to show people that people like… me, can be just as heroic". __**"**__**T**__**here's that bleeding heart of yours. Listen public opinion of pedos ain't gonna change just because you save a few people**_**. **_** They're always going to be disgusted by you". **_

That's what Richard wanted to change, he wasn't a monster because of what he was, but he knew that if some of his friends found out about it he'd probably be abandoned and turned into a pariah. "Maybe it's time to start fresh" Richard said aloud to himself.

"_**What are you saying Rich?" **"Maybe it's time for a new me. A new start". _

Richard knew the type of person he wanted to be in this apocalypse, and he couldn't be that person if he had to stay with his family. He didn't want them to see the person he was going to turn into, but it was who he wanted to be.

_**"You're really gonna do that? you're gonna leave them just so you can be some wandering hero? You don't even know that this will actually turn into a full-blown apocalypse, the government could fix this within the next few days". **"We both know that won't be true, the way this is spreading is too quick for the government to do anything. I have the chance to be someone better, the person I really am". _

Richard was pulled out of his thoughts by his phone vibrating in his pocket, his mom sent him another message. _'You still alright Rich? I know it will be a while on foot, just wanted to make sure you're still good.' _Richard felt horrible about what he was about to do but he needed this. He wanted this. _'Yeah I'm good mom, I love you. Tell everyone else I love them too'. _He then deleted the conversations on his phone and made sure to turn off location services on his phone so they couldn't find him.

And with that, Richard was on his own, he set off towards the screams nearby with a new found purpose in his life. Something he hasn't had for a while.

* * *

**March 13th, 2019 **

Richard walked along a suburban neighborhood, searching through the houses for supplies along the way, and maybe a place to sleep for the night. He came across an ugly yellow colored house, it looked like the rest of the houses except for the fact that there were solar panels adorning the roof. _"No way". _Richard opened the front door and stepped inside. He whacked his staff against the wall a couple times and the sound echoed through the house. After a few minutes of nothing, he knew he was alone and immediately flipped a light switch to confirm his hopes.

The lights flicked on as a result and Richard stared in awe at the brightness coming from the Led bulbs in the ceiling fan, which had begun to spin. _"They have power here! Sweet, I think I'll stay here for the night". _ Richard began exploring the house and made his way up to the second story, checking the bedrooms upstairs for a place to sleep. He walked into the master bedroom and started searching through the drawers and various storage boxes inside.

Rich opened up the nightstand and found a key inside, yet there was no safe in the room that it could've gone to. _"Maybe a house key? Garage or something? Wait I haven't gone in the basement yet". _He searched around the first floor for a minute before finding the door leading to the basement under the stairs. He didn't know what to expect when he got down there, maybe the location of the safe, or something, but certainly not a thick steel door.

"Holy shit..." He breathed out to himself as he stared at the door. Looking to the key, Richard walked over to it and turned the key in the lock, opening the door to reveal a small hallway that lead to another, more normal looking door. He used the same key and opened the door, nothing but darkness ahead. He turned on his flashlight and found another switch to his right on the wall. Flicking said switch turned on the lights and Richard was in awe of the gold mine he just found. "A goddamn doomsday bunker!? No fucking way".

Richard explored the bunker and the various rooms within, amazed by the fact that he was lucky to not only find this place, but to have it be completely untouched. He set his bags down in one of the bedrooms and continued exploring the bunker. After discovering that the place had running water, Richard immediately undressed and hopped in the shower, cherishing the soothing, warm water running down his body.

Once he was done, Richard got dressed in his new room and saw a similar picture of the same family he'd seen upstairs. He took the picture and looked at the happy family with a sad expression. "Wonder what happened to you guys. I'm guessing something bad or else you'd be here… Thank you for building this, I'll make sure nothing goes to waste".

Richard passed by the television in the living room and found an Xbox one and play-station 4 on the entertainment center. _"No fucking way". _Richard rushed back to his bags and took out the three hard drives and cords he took with him when he left his apartment. He plugged two of them into the xbox and the last one into the play-station, booting up the xbox to see that he could still access everything he had. To say that Rich was beyond astonished was an understatement at this point, he couldn't believe the luck he had.

He stayed down in the bunker for almost an entire month before deciding to venture back outside.

He took out the map he had and looked at a couple marked locations he had on it. "I already have two of them, now that I have a central point, I can branch out and make more outposts to create a safe zone". Rich said to himself as he began planning out his trip to make a dedicated safe area that spanned miles around his new home. "Maybe if I do this right I can make one giant safe area around this suburb, then not only will I have a safe place to live but others can too".

Richard closed the map and prepared his gear to start his new mission, he finally had a new goal to strive for instead of just aimlessly wandering, searching for those in need.

* * *

**May 20th, 2019 **

Richard was on his way to a new outpost, only two left to go before he had made a complete circle around his home. He was feeling down today and like most other times, he had no idea why. He had found a great place to live in this new world and he'd helped a bunch of people since this outbreak started, he was a hero. So why did he still feel like he was a villain?

He thought back to the people he's killed since the outbreak started, his first kill and how he looked forward to the next as the body count rose. Was this really who he was now? A killer? No he told himself, he was a hero. He saves people and deals with those who would do others harm, so that meant he was a hero right?

He was pulled from his thoughts by the groaning of a few walkers around the corner of the building he was walking beside. He readied his knife as he turned the corner and quickly dispatched the walking corpses. "Someone help!" Richard turned towards the noise and tried to find the source of it.

He crossed the street and heard more cries coming from the building he was close to. Richard heard more walkers inside and the shouting of someone, sounded like a child. Richard kicked the door down and saw a young boy trying to drag who he assumed to be his unconscious mother up a flight of stairs as a small group of walkers slowly made their way towards the two. Richard shouted to get the attention of the walkers but not all of them turned in his direction.

Richard took out his carbine and fired into the group, now that he had the ammo to waste he was less stingy with using his gun. Once all the walkers were dead, Richard made his way across the room to the staircase the boy was still struggling to get up. "Hey are you alright?" Richard calmly asked and the boy looked at him with tears in his eyes before looking back down to the woman he was trying to move.

"Is that your mom? What happened?"

"Sh-she's sick, we were trying to f-find a place to hide from those monsters before she…"

"Is she bit?" Richard cautiously asked, not wanting to hear a yes to that question.

"No!… I mean no she's fine. Just been sick the past couple days is all". The boy said, but Rich wasn't completely sold that it was just some simple sickness. He figured he'd let it be for now however and help the boy move his mom upstairs and make sure they were both alright.

"So what's your name? how old are you? Is it just you and your mom?" Richard question the boy as he grabbed the mom and carried her upstairs.

"It's john, I'm eight and… yeah its just us now". By the sounds of that answer, Richard could tell that was a recent fact but felt it best not to pry. "My name's Richard, and It's just been me out here. I've been roaming around looking for people like you to help, not too many people look out for each other these days".

"I'm just glad you showed up when you did..." Richard couldn't help but notice the underlying tone in the boy's voice, it didn't match the positiveness of his comment. They made it to the top of the stairs and found an empty room, which just so happened to have a small cot in it. It looked like some office space and Rich set the woman down on the cot before turning his attention back to John.

"you sure you're alright? You aren't hurt or nothing?" John shook his head in response and Richard smiled before he took out a candy bar he found just before running into the pair and handed it to the boy. John smiled when he saw it and Rich realized it was the first time he'd seen him smile yet.

He asked if the boy was hungry and John enthusiastically nodded, so Rich took out the different food choices he had for him. The boy's eyes lit up when he spotted the can of peaches, those were his favorite. He told John to eat up while he made sure the coast was clear outside. Rich wanted to make sure they wouldn't have any problems during the night, leaving John alone with his mom.

Richard walked around a couple blocks and cleared out a few more walkers, hoping more wouldn't show up and he'd be able to get John and his mom out safely when she was able to move. When he got closer to the building he left the two in he heard a scream coming from the second story. "No…"

Richard quickly rushed inside, nearly jumping up the steps of the stairs and burst into the room he left John and his mom in. By the time he got inside however he was appalled by the sight before him, John was on the floor and his mother, now undead was biting into his neck.

"Nononono" The walker heard Richard and turned it's attention towards him as Rich took out his knife. He stabbed it in the head and it dropped to the ground with a heavy thud. Tears began to well up in Richard's eyes as he looked at the boy, he was already dead from his mother's attack with his face frozen in horror.

"I should've pushed...I knew he was hiding something and I should've fucking done something. I'm such a fucking idiot!" Richard knelt down next to John and looked at the child's face, He knew it wouldn't be too long before the boy turned so Rich took the knife out of the walker corpse and turned back to John.

"I'm so sorry. I should've done more...this shouldn't have happened to you. I'm sorry..." Rich then gripped the knife tightly and stabbed John's corpse through the side of his head.

Richard wiped his eyes and grabbed his stuff, he couldn't stay in this town now, he'd find somewhere else for his outpost. "Never again. I won't fail like this. Ever. Again".

* * *

**June 10th, 2019 **

Richard made it back to his bunker after finally finding a good spot for another outpost in an abandoned military base. He put up his gear and took the time to clean the house upstairs before heading back down to the bunker to relax. _"Only one more area to look into then I have a complete circle. There's barely been any walkers around too". _

His mind then went back to John and his mother. It'd been a couple weeks since he failed them and that defeat still weighed heavy on his heart. His eyes glanced over to a cabinet in the kitchen and he got up off the couch to open it. He took out a bottle of Jack Daniels and grabbed a couple cokes out of the fridge. He didn't want to think about them, and he was going to do what he could to forget. At least for the night.

The following morning made Rich regret that decision as his splitting headache was more than enough reason to remind him never to go that far. He couldn't even remember why he drank that much in the first place and guessed that meant he did it right. After spending the first few hours of the day recovering from his hangover Richard decided to get to work. He went to the dining room table to look at the map he already had laid out and scanned it for the locations he was looking for.

He looked to the two towns he was going to use to finish up his safe zone and tried to make up his mind on which one to choose. He figured he'd let fate decide and put both options down on paper, throwing them into a hat and picking one out. He figured he'd rest for a week or two before heading back out again, he needed to relax anyway.

**June 22nd, 2019**

Richard packed his bags and left the bunker to set up his last outpost. He wasn't going too far for this one, only a day's journey at most so he decided to split it up between two days and make a camp about halfway there. He was completely unaware of what he'd stumble across and the Journey this choice was going to take him on.

* * *

**So there's the beginning of the outbreak from Richard's perspective. And his choice to leave those he cared about to become someone else, even if he didn't turn out like he thought he would. Like I said earlier, I'll have the next chapter posted later tonight so be on the lookout within the next few hours for that, It'll be a doozy. **


	6. Whatever It Takes

**And here's the second chapter of the night. Previously Richard and Lincoln were searching through a neighborhood near the bunker when they were ambushed by a gang of men. Now we see the aftermath of their encounter. Hope you all enjoy the chapter. **

**warning: This chapter contains scenes of violence and sexual assault**

**edit: sorry for the repost, no new chapter just made a couple spelling fixes that were bugging me. **

* * *

**Whatever It Takes**

** October 31st, 2019. 9:00 pm**

Richard groggily woke to the sound of metal clanking, feeling a pain in the back of his head as he tried to remember what happened. "damn it no! Not again!" Richard recognized that voice, it was Lincoln and he sounded terrified. Rich finally opened his eyes to see just himself and Lincoln in a room.

Richard then remembered why his head was hurting and began scanning his surroundings to see just how dire their situation was.

The first thing Rich noticed was that him and Lincoln were chained to a wall a few feet apart. Richard's left hand was chained to a pipe, which he checked to see the condition of and was annoyed when he realized he couldn't break it. _"That's one option gone, lock around the chain doesn't look like it'll break any easier either". _ Rich then continued to look around the room and noticed there were no windows, only one door and no furniture to speak of, nothing he could use to get out.

_"Fuck, this isn't good. Gotta come up with something soon, I don't want him having to go through this shit again". _

Richard finally looked back over to Lincoln, who looked like he was about to start having a panic attack. "Hey Linc".

Lincoln looked over to Rich and was glad he was finally up, at least he wasn't alone this time. Rich gave him the most reassuring look he could before calmly speaking again. "Listen to me. This isn't going to be like the last time alright? I'm going to get us both out of here and before anything happens, okay?" Lincoln gave a small smile and nodded in response. After seeing Rich in action in the months they've been on the road, Lincoln knew they'd be able to handle these guys. He trusted him.

"So how are we gonna get out Rich? There isn't anything in here we can use and they took all of our stuff". Richard smirked. "Not everything. Remember what I said about bad guys in movies?" Lincoln raised a brow in confusion until Richard lifted his left foot and wiggled it, reminding Lincoln of the knife he kept in his shoe. "So you alright? How long have you been up?"

"I'm… alright I think. I only just got up about ten minutes ago and haven't heard or seen anything or anyone outside. No idea how many there are". Lincoln replied. "Well we know there's at least six of them, seen the automatic rifles they got too. Who knows if they have more guys, but if they do then, well, I've dealt with worse". After a few moments of silence Richard was about to take the knife out of his shoe, when they heard noises just outside the door.

Two of the boy's captors entered the room, one a tall Hispanic with dreadlocks along the top of his head. The other was a white guy, maybe mid-thirties who looked like the very definition of average, nothing too special about him. They shut the door behind them and the plain looking man spoke up. "Ah, you're both up. Good, my name's Pete, this is Carlos, and you are?" **_"What a fake ass smile. I've seen better from you Rich. Look at his eyes, see anything familiar?" _**Richard knew what the other part of his mind was talking about, the mask that this guy, Pete, was wearing.

Pete's cheery demeanor was betrayed by the look in his eyes, the darkness, the lust behind those eyes contradicted the charming smile plastered over the man's face. Just their luck, they had to get taken by someone looking for _that._

Richard figured he'd play nice for now though, no need to cause unwanted problems yet. "My name's Richard, this is Lincoln. If you don't mind me asking, why are we here? What do you want from us?" Pete looked between the two boys, seeing the hate filled look coming from Lincoln, he figured the boy had an idea. "I brought you two here to have some fun, maybe be part of our group, we could always use knew people".

"Why do I get the feeling that there's a catch, a price we have to pay to do that?" Pete looked over to Lincoln one more time, seeing that his gaze hadn't changed one bit since he turned away. "By the looks Lincoln over here is giving me, I'm guessing he already knows the price, and maybe has had some _fun_ before?" Richard turned to see what he meant and could see the anger in Lincoln's eyes, but Rich knew, he could tell that his look was hiding a lot of fear.

"Well then, if that's the reason then hows about you take just me. Unlike him I'm a virgin and I'll be sure to give ya a much better time than he ever could". "Rich what the hell are you doing?" Lincoln shouted. "stay out of this, It's a deal between me and Pete here. I'm doing what needs to be done".

"What's the story here? Brothers? Ooooh maybe even Lovers?" Pete coyly asked.

"He's my friend and I say take me instead". Lincoln offered. "Shut up Lincoln! Look I'll gladly take his place, let him go and you can have me". Pete laughed before reminding the two of one simple fact: "I already have you both. Why do I need to choose?"

_"Dammit. Worth a shot I guess". _

"Now I'm gonna take the boy here into the other room so that we can have some fun. Then afterwards maybe I'll take you up on your offer to show me a better time". Richard bared his teeth as he snarled at the Pete, who had begun moving towards Lincoln. "No! Come on, take me first. Let's go, I need to get laid badly anyway". Pete ignored Rich as he continued his advance towards Lincoln and held him steady as he undid the cuff around Lincoln's right arm.

"Get the hell off me!" Lincoln shouted before being socked in the gut by Pete, who started dragging him out of the room. "You Motherfucker! Stop. Get back here and take me dammit! Come on you coward!" Pete continued to ignore Rich as his buddy Carlos opened the door and they walked out, dragging Lincoln with them and slamming the door shut. Rich could still hear Lincoln's protests as they faded in the distance.

Rich quickly took his shoe off and grabbed his knife. "Come on Rich, you got a promise to keep".

* * *

**Pete's compound- 9:15pm**

"Let me go!" Lincoln demanded. Trying to sound tough, even though he was breaking down on the inside. Pete said nothing as he ignored Lincoln's pleas. He lead the boy through multiple hallways before heading down the last corridor, to a door on the right. He swung the door open and thew Lincoln to the ground inside before turning and locking the door.

The room looked similar to the last one Lincoln was in, except this one had a stained bed in the back corner and a square wooden table in the center. There there four folding chairs seated around the table and a couple other pieces of furniture scattered the room. Lincoln could hear crackling and noticed a fireplace on the wall to his right and a metal poker among other tools placed nearby it. He was about to run for it but was blocked by Pete, who stood between Lincoln and the weapon.

"Don't go getting any ideas now, It'd be best if you just did what I asked from now on". Lincoln's eyes flashed open and his mind went back to that place. _"__Y__ou're gonna learn sooner or later that what I say goes!". __"__J__ust give it more time and I'm sure you'll find that this really feels good". "...__b__ut you're mine now Lincoln, the sooner you accept it the easier everything will be"._

"No! I'm not going to just give in. you aren't getting what you want out of me". Pete gave the boy a devilish grin before making his move. Lincoln ran over to the table, picking up one of the folding chairs and holding it in the air, ready for an attack. Pete followed him around the table in a circle before flipping it towards Lincoln in anger to get it out of the way. Lincoln stepped back and swung the chair when Pete got close.

He hit the man in his arm, not seeming to harm him much as Pete barely flinched and grabbed a hold of the chair in return. The two struggled with the chair until Pete took a hand away to punch Lincoln across the face. This caused Lincoln to drop the chair and fall to the ground and Pete took the chance to jump on top of him, pinning his flailing arms to the ground. "Look I like a fight as much as the next guy but I'm also not to fond of dragging things out. So lets get to the main event".

Pete bent forward to plant his lips on Lincoln's own but the boy wasn't done fighting. He rammed his head up at full speed and bashed his forehead against Pete's, making the man stumble back in response. "You little shit! that's enough."

Lincoln scrambled away, trying to crawl over to the fireplace poker, but he didn't get too far before Pete grabbed hold of his ankles and dragged him back. Pete hit the boy across the face a few times and was about to deliver another blow when he heard a loud scream coming from somewhere else in the building.

Pete opened the door and told the guard he had posted out front to check what was going on. He then closed the door and looked back to Lincoln who had just managed to sit up and was again trying to get to the weapon. Pete shook his head as he slowly stalked over to the boy.

* * *

**9:15pm- confinement **

"...you got a promise to keep".

Richard took hold of his knife and immediately tried to pick the lock around the chain. He couldn't fit enough of it in the lock however since the blade was too big so next he set his sights on the chain itself. _"Maybe if I bash it enough, or maybe try and pry the Links apart..." _**_"It's a metal chain stupid, you aren't breaking shit with that knife". _**_"If you don't have anything useful to add then howabout you just shut the hell up"._

**_"Maybe try keeling over in pain or something and trying to get the guard's attention". _**_"This isn't a stupid Austin Powers movie, I doubt they'd fall for that". _**_"Well if you scream enough than maybe they'd come in here to shut you up". _**

Richard shook his head as he tried to think of something else, sure he could try that stupid idea but he doubted it'd work. At least not as fast as he needed it to. Then he looked to his left arm, then curiously back at his knife. After taking a few glances between the knife and his arm he settled on what he needed to do. **_"__W__hoa, whoa, whoa are you serious? You're gonna do THAT before even trying my idea?" _**_"__T__hey've been gone for about ten minutes at least, if that guy is anything like I think he is then he's not gonna waste any time. I made a promise and I intend to keep it". _**_"But still that's a bit drastic don't you think? What if you pass out before you're done, or you actually manage take it off and bleed to death? At least try my idea first". _**

_ "It'll take too long, he could be screwing him right now as we debate this and I can't just let it happen. If there's something I can do to stop it then I will. No matter what". _

_** "We both know you aren't this tough Rich, you'll either pass out or bleed to death before you can help him and then what? he'll be on his own again". **_

_ "I don't think that'll happen, because it CAN'T happen. I can't fail, not again". _**_"__A__re you still on about that? There was nothing you could've done, he was already resigned to go and you did what you could". _**_"Not everything". _

Richard looked to the sky, well the ceiling, as he closed his eyes and prayed. "If you really are up there, then give me the strength to do this. I know the wrongs I've done and I know I'm probably not worth it, but he is. So if not for me, than for him, allow me to do what needs to be done".

Richard tore his flannel to pieces, wrapping a piece tightly around his upper arm and took off his belt, folding it in half and biting down on it. _"This is gonna fuckin suck. But I made a promise, and I can't let him down". _Richard placed the blade against his left wrist, his whole body shaking. He breathed in and counted to four then exhaled, he repeated this a couple more times and with a determined glare, brought the knife down.

He jammed the knife as hard as he could into his wrist, trying to break the bone and make an opening big enough to make this easy. He let out a scream that was so far being muffled behind his makeshift gag. He faltered for just a few seconds before he took the knife out and brought it back down, repeating this process a few more times before starting to cut it off. His screams intensified as he continued to slash and cut into his flesh.

It took longer than he hoped, and the pain was more than he could imagine but after a few moments he finally managed to cut, slash and bash enough to cut himself free. The last few attempts at breaking the bone completely caused Richard such an intense pain that the belt fell out of his mouth and his screams rang out through the compound.

**_"Shit you actually fucking did it! Now tie something around that stump, you gotta remember to cauterize that too. Now. Get. UP! We got a friend to save". _**Richard replaced his flannel tourniquet and used his belt instead. He heard the faint echo of footsteps grow louder as they got closer to his room. He flattened himself against the wall and was ready to strike as soon as that door opened. His mind was only one one thing now: kill them all.

* * *

** 9:30pm Pete's room**

Pete had made his way back over to Lincoln just as he was reaching for fireplace poker. "You seem to want this thing really badly. What? you think you can kill me with it?" Pete shoved Lincoln's hand away and grabbed the poker from it's stand. "If you want it so badly then here take it!" Pete whacked Lincoln across the face with the poker, cutting the right side of his face.

Lincoln yelped in pain and tried to sit back up, using his arms to scoot backwards, away from Pete. The man was now angry and gripped the poker tightly, grinning before taking it and shoving it straight into Lincoln's right arm. The boy screamed out and that's when Pete heard gunshots coming from out in the halls. "hmpf sounds like your boyfriend managed to escape, maybe that gunshot was his death, maybe it was him doing the killing… either way, he won't get here before I take what I want".

Pete pulled the poker from Lincoln's arm who let out another light scream at the sharp pain emanating from the wound. Lincoln wrapped his left hand around his arm where the poker was run through and hissed in pain. There were tears beginning to form in his eyes, but also a small spark of hope after hearing the gunshots. He knew Rich was coming, and then Pete would be in trouble.

Pete roughly grabbed Lincoln by his shoulders and threw him face first on the bed. Half of Lincoln's body landed on it while his legs dangled off the side, the blood from his wound started soaking into the stained white bed sheets. Before Lincoln could react, Pete was on him, pushing his head against the dirty mattress and wrenching his one good arm behind his back. More gunshots rang out through the building and Pete was beginning to sweat, he couldn't imagine his guys having trouble with just one man. Especially one who didn't even look that tough.

Like he said though, whether Richard made it to them or not, he was going to claim what was his. Pete kicked Lincoln's legs apart and the boy sucked in a breath, images of the hotel rushing back. "No. get the fuck off me!" Lincoln demanded, as he tried to kick his legs out in Pete's direction.

But Pete was done playing around and sent his knee right against Lincoln's crotch, knocking the wind, and by extension fight, out of the boy. He then grabbed a hold on the waistband of Lincoln's pants and started tugging them down, taking his underwear with them. With tears in his eyes, Lincoln pleaded one more time for Pete to stop, but he was not listening.

Pete pushed his own pants to the floor and spat on his hand, bringing it down to his hardening cock. He used one hand to hold onto Lincoln's hip and the other to lead his dick to the boy's entrance. But before he could get too close, a loud gunshot sounded just outside the door to the room, soon followed by the door being kicked in.

* * *

**9:30 pm- confinement **

Richard flattened himself against the wall, ready to stab whoever came through it. The door quickly swung open, shielding Richard as one of Pete's men stepped inside. "What the hell?" the man faintly said as he stared at the bloody hand still attached to the chain. At that point Richard kicked the door shut and stabbed the man through the neck.

His victim immediately moved his hands to grasp at the knife sticking through his neck, but Richard shoved his hands away as he twisted the knife and shoved it to the side, tearing a wide hole in the man's neck and let him fall to the ground. _"Please have a gun, I don't know if I have the energy for a fight". _

Richard turned the corpse over and found a pistol in a holster on the man's side. _"1911, seven shots". _Rich went to make sure he chambered a round, but as soon as he lifted up his stump of a left arm he realized he'd need to get used to doing things differently. He slid the gun in his left armpit and pushed it forward, hearing the successful sound of a shot being ready to fire.

_"Seven shots". _

Richard took his knife and sheathed it in the front of his pants before opening the door and preparing for blood. He looked to his left and right down the long hallway and tried to think of which way to go, he thought back to the sound of the footsteps earlier and figured that he should go to the right. As he moved further down the hall he came across a door on his left and slowly opened it.

He saw two guys sitting by a barrel fire and stuck the gun in his armpit, taking his knife out to stab the first guy. As soon as the blade was stuck in the man's head his friend turned to see what just happened and came face to face with the barrel of Richard's gun. Rich pulled the trigger and fired twice into the man's head. Richard searched the two men and found two more guns to use. _"small .38 revolver, and a m9 Beretta. Total of 28 shots now". _

Richard clicked the hammer back on the revolver and cocked the m9, sticking the revolver in the front of his pants and the m9 around the back. He stepped back into the hall and saw two men rushing down from the end he was heading towards. Rich quickly drew the 1911 and fired twice at the guy on the right and three times at the one on the left, dropping both of them. He threw the handgun on the ground and drew the revolver. Richard was now smiling, part of him was glad to have this excuse to cut loose.

"No ones getting in my damn way".

Richard was moving solely on the adrenaline and rage pumping through his veins.

Richard continued down the hallways, kicking in doors and killing whoever he came across, not giving them a second to shoot him. Rich now held the m9 with sixteen bullets still inside as he checked the last few rooms down the various corridors. He finally reached a dead-end with Carlos standing guard outside of a doorway. Richard shot the him even though he held his hands up in surrender. He then put all his force in his foot as he kicked the door in.

* * *

**9:45 pm- Pete's room **

Before either of the two could say a word, Rich raised his gun and fired at Pete, hitting him in his right knee. Pete screamed in agony as he clutched his right leg, and before he could do anything else Rich shot the other knee out, causing Pete to drop to the ground. Lincoln smiled as Rich entered the room to save him, but that smile slowly faltered as he saw Richard's face.

There was an evil intensity behind the stare that Rich was giving Pete, and the smile he had on his face was like that of the Joker. "You fuck! How did yo-" Rich cut Pete off by shooting him again, blowing off a couple fingers on his left hand. "R-R-Rich? ar-" "Pull your pants up Lincoln". Lincoln was still against the bed, frozen in place and barely registering what Rich coldly said.

"I said pull your fucking pants up!" Lincoln was jolted awake by Rich's command and did as he was asked. He then limped over to the edge of the bed and leaned against the wall, getting out of the way between Rich and Pete.

"Couldn't just leave well enough alone could you!? Why is it so fucking hard to have just a little self control? Why is it so easy for you to do shit like this!?" Pete was in too much pain and shock to answer the question, but Richard simply saw it as being ignored and shot Pete in his right arm. Pete held his bloody hand up to the new gunshot wound in pain.

"Are you gonna answer me?" Richard calmly asked.

"R-R-Rich, let's just go". Lincoln pleadingly asked, but to no avail. Richard wasn't hearing anything but the sound of static in his head as his anger kept him blind to everything but him and Pete. He fired once more, this time shooting Pete's most prized part of his body, causing the would be rapist to scream out in agony.

Lincoln couldn't let this continue so he shoved Rich and screamed at him one more time. "Richard snap the hell out of it!" That seemed to do it as Richard blinked rapidly before looking at the gun which he then slowly lowered and turned himself around towards Lincoln. "I-I-I'm sorry. Did, did he? Are you a-alright!?"

Lincoln glanced off to the side at the ground before answering. "H-he, he DI-didn't get that far. I-I'm fine. Let's just go. Please". Richard was still pissed beyond belief and turned to face Pete once more. "P-please, no more". Pete said through shaky breaths, barely able to get the words out through the burning pain shooting throughout his body.

Richard looked to Pete and then the gun in his hand, then back to Pete. Without another second Rich aimed his gun and fired, shooting Pete in the head. Rich stumbled back a bit after firing the shot and dropped the gun. "Are you alright Rich?" "We need to leave, find our stuff and get out".

Rich turned to walk out of the room but started feeling woozy and he knew he was going to pass out soon. **_"Running on fumes here Rich, we need to get a move on". _**_"I know dammit!" _

"Are you sure you're al-" Lincoln then noticed the blood dripping from Rich's left arm and moved to get a better look. "Did you get shot? what hap-" That's when Lincoln saw what the issue was. "W-what happened!? Where, where's your hand!?" Lincoln frantically asked.

"There's no time, gotta move. Now." Richard started walking out of the room but was easily turned back by Lincoln. The boy looked at Richard with worried eyes and asked again. "what. Happened? What did you do!?"

"I...kept a promise. It's as simple as that. Now let's move". Lincoln stood there stunned as Richard walked out of the room. "Now!" Lincoln snapped out of his stupor and followed Rich down the hall as they searched for their stuff. As they walked through the halls, Lincoln couldn't help but stare at the stump that used to be Richard's left hand.

"Are you gonna talk to me?" Lincoln worriedly asked, scared by Richard's cold state. "Later. Right now we need to find our stuff and get out of here before I pass out. So keep moving".

The two eventually came across the room that housed all the stolen gear, there was more than just the packs taken from Rich and Lincoln in it. In Rich's opinion, too much. "I-I think all of them are dead. There's no rush, so we should take a look at that and make sure it doesn't get infected or anything". Lincoln tried convincing Richard to just listen to him, but it wasn't working.

"How's your arm? That hole in it doesn't look like it feels too good". "I'm fine. I don't think he got too deep. You however aren't, I can see the strain you're putting on yourself just to stay upright".

**_"__Would you just listen to the damn kid Rich. He's trying to help you and you're shutting down, why?" _**_"There could be more, we need to be out of here asap in case they show up". _**_"What you need to do is cauterize that wound. You're gonna die if you don't take care of it soon. Do you want him to be on his own?". _**

"sigh*…Follow me. And hurry". Lincoln grabbed his bag and slipped his holster back on, quickly following Richard out into the hall. They headed back into Pete's room and Rich asked Lincoln to help him with the body. They shoved it out into the hall and shut the door, locking it behind them. Rich looked at the stand of fireplace tools and pointed to one of them. "Set that coal shovel over the fire".

Lincoln grabbed it and angled the shovel so the base was hovering over the fire. Richard sat on the floor with his back against the bed, and carefully undid the wrap he put around his stump.

"We gotta cauterize this. You know what that means?" "I-I think so yeah". Richard finished taking off the makeshift bandage and stared at his missing hand, in disbelief that he actually went through with it. But not regretting his decision. "Ri-"

"It should be hot enough now, bring the shovel over here". Lincoln sadly turned around and grabbed it from the fire, bringing it over to Richard.

"Let's take care of that hole first, don't think just bandaging it up will do and we can't take the time to stitch it up, you ready?" Lincoln gulped before nodding. "Just do what I do. Inhale, count to four, and exhale, count to four. It helps calm the nerves. Trust me". Doing as Rich suggested, Lincoln breathed in and out. "Okay".

Richard pressed the shovel against Lincoln's arm, causing him to hiss in pain at the burning sensation shooting through his arm.

After giving Lincoln a minute to catch his breath, Richard held out the shovel.

"Okay now this part is gonna be all you. I don't, I don't think I'll be able to do it properly...You got this". Lincoln took a calming breath and slowly brought the heated base of the shovel close to Rich's former left hand. "Now listen. I might pass out from this, I'm surprised I even made it this far. You need to keep an eye out. We don't know how many more of them there could be". Lincoln nodded in response.

"You ready?" Richard closed his eyes and hesitantly nodded in response. "Before I do this I just want to say, thank you. I- I was so scared, but I trusted that you knew what you were doing. And now… well remember we talked about how I probably wouldn't be able to ever fully trust you? I do now". Lincoln said with a smile, which Rich gladly returned. "Do it".

"Sorry..." Lincoln pressed the shovel against Rich's stump and his scream of pain soon joined the sound of searing flesh. Lincoln repeated the word sorry over and over again until he was finished.

By the time Lincoln was done, Richard had passed out and Lincoln had to make sure he was still breathing. The boy grabbed some bandage wraps from Rich's duffle bag and took care of Rich's wound as well as his own before finally settling down. Lincoln grabbed the pillow off of the bed and set it down on the ground, gently laying Richard's head on top of it.

Lincoln grabbed his gun and the one Richard had dropped earlier. He set them on the bed and pushed the table against the door, making an extra barricade even though the door was locked. Sitting down on the bed he set the guns down beside him and looked down at Richard to make sure he was still alive. Seeing the slow rise and fall of his chest gave Lincoln relief, yet he still felt terrible that Rich is even in this state.

Tears had started to form in his eyes as he thought about what Rich had to go through, just to reach him in time.

_"__He cut off his hand… for a stupid promise. For me. He didn't need to do that, I would've been fine". __**"You're fine because he did it. Pete was just about to ram into you when Rich kicked that door in. If he hadn't done it then you'd be fucked, literally". **__"I survived it before I could do it now, he didn't have to". _

_**"He wanted to **__**help you **__**Lincoln, he cares about you in case you couldn't tell. Maybe he thinks of you as a brother or something". **__"W__ell __maybe the feeling's mutual". _

"Just. Please be okay Richard, You've become someone I don't want to lose".

Lincoln stopped talking to himself as he heard footsteps coming from outside. He instantly grabbed his gun and aimed it at the door. "The hell? What happened?" "I don't know but everyone else is dead, even Pete. It's just you and me now".

"_Please just go away. Please". _

Lincoln saw the doorknob jiggle and hoped they'd just turn back now. "Hey is anyone in there?" Lincoln kept quiet, if he did then maybe they'd leave. Unfortunately that didn't happen. The door rattled with the impact of the man's shoulder and Lincoln knew it was only a matter of time until they busted it down.

"Don't come in here! I'll shoot" Lincoln could hear the whispers coming from outside but he didn't know what they were saying. "Who are you? And what happened here?"

Calming himself down to try and sound more intimidating, Lincoln spoke up, now with more gravitas to his voice. "Someone who took out all your other guys, someone you shouldn't mess with. If you don't want to end up like your friends then I suggest you leave".

There was a long and tense silence and Lincoln steadied his aim in case they chose to bust in. He had to hold the gun with his left hand since his right arm was too messed up to stay steady, Lincoln wasn't really sure if it'd impact his shooting or not but he knew it had to be better than the alternative.

The shuffling of footsteps getting quieter and quieter meant they were taking his offer and Lincoln sighed in relief. He dropped the gun and scooted back on the bed, leaning his back against the wall. Lincoln wanted nothing more than to just drift off to sleep, but he had to stay awake, for his and Rich's sake.

After some time went by, Lincoln hadn't heard any more noise from outside and figured the two men left. Lincoln hopped off the bed, heading over to his bag for something to keep his mind occupied. He grabbed a stack of Ace Savvy comics from his pack and his mp3 player. "Nah gotta keep my ears on alert. I'll just stick with the comics".

He set the stack on the bed beside him and opened the first one up to begin reading. A few hours later and Lincoln could hear faint groans coming from nearby. He immediately set the comic down and looked over the side of the bed, down at Richard. He was tossing and turning in his sleep and it looked like he was having some sort of nightmare.

Lincoln wanted to let him rest but if Rich was having a nightmare then he figured it'd be better for him to wake up. After a few failed attempts, Rich's eyes flashed open and he frantically looked around the room. "Lincoln? Lincoln!?" "Rich it's alright, I'm right here".

Richard turned to see the boy sitting on the bed with his legs dangling off the side. Other than the bandage wrapped around his upper arm and the one for the cut on his face, the boy seemed fine. Rich relaxed a bit upon seeing Lincoln's smile, but then that smile faded and he was worried. "Do you remember what happened Rich?" Lincoln sullenly asked.

Richard thought for a moment before all the images of the night ran through his mind. Waking up bound to a pipe, Lincoln being taken, and then…

Richard's eyes widened and he slowly brought his left arm up into view, hoping he was remembering incorrectly.

But as soon as he saw his missing hand, he realized that it wasn't a false memory, he cut his own hand off. He started shaking as he stared in disbelief and his eyes started welling up with tears. His bottom lip began quivering as he couldn't bring himself to turn away from the unnerving sight.

He could still feel it, like it was still attached to him but he knew it was gone, this was just a phantom pain.

"Richard?"

He turned to Lincoln who held a sympathetic look in his eyes. "You kept your promise… he, he didn't get to really do anything..._like that_ to me. And that was only because of you". "I-I'm sorry if I scared you… I remember what I did last night. How I acted and that I was enjoying it. I'm sorry for being so cold after the fact too, you didn't deserve that".

"Don't… don't apologize for that. Things got tense, you saved me and that's all that matters. You came back. You stopped yourself from doing more".

"you stopped me from doing more. You brought me back to my senses after I had already begun to brutalize that guy". Richard corrected.

"He brutalized me first". Richard nodded and scooted himself against the wall, moving his head back and closing his eyes.

"Rich… Can I ask you something?" Lincoln asked. Richard nodded. "What am I to you?".

"Huh? What do you mean? You're my friend". Richard replied as if he was being asked a stupid question. "You'd cut off your hand for a friend?" "I'd cut it off for someone who mattered Lincoln. And you matter to me. Maybe… sigh* Maybe I've come to view you as more than a friend, maybe like a little brother".

"I've never had one..." Lincoln began. "...But I think I know what it feels like to have one now". They both smiled at one another and Lincoln hopped off the bed to give Rich a hug. "Oh? so we're on hugging terms now huh?" "Shut up idiot. Don't ruin it". Richard smiled and gently moved his good arm around Lincoln to return the hug.

After breaking the hug, Richard asked if anything happened while he was passed out and Lincoln told him about the two people who tried to get in. "It sounded like they were the last two members of this group, they haven't come back since and I haven't heard anything else".

"Well Lets get a move on, don't want to stay here any longer". Richard grunted in pain as he began trying to stand up.

"You sure you don't want to rest up a little more Rich? You're not exactly in the best condition". "We can rest up at the bunker, last I knew we were only a few more miles from it. Gotta get our bearings and figure out where to go". Rich replied. He then looked at the pocket watch he kept and saw the time, realizing that they still had a couple more hours before daylight. "Hm maybe we can stay for a little longer". He said with a weak smile as he gently sat back down, hissing in pain from the strain on his body.

* * *

**7:00am-Pete's compound**

The two cautiously stepped out into the hall and slowly made their way through the various corridors until they found an exit. Richard had to use his staff as a walking stick since his body was still weak, he stumbled a few times, but Lincoln stopped him from falling down completely. Richard wasn't used to this, having to rely on another to this degree for help, but that didn't mean he wasn't appreciative.

On the way, they passed the room they were held in and Richard took one quick glance inside. He was stunned to see his left hand still dangling from his former confinement and was about to walk inside and grab it but before he could Lincoln shut the door. "Just let it go. I think it'd be for the best". Rich looked at Lincoln and then back to the door, sighing before nodding his head in agreement and continuing onward.

Once outside, the two saw that they were still close to the neighborhood they were searching through earlier before being nabbed by Pete's gang. "Okay, I think if we follow this road it should lead us to the exit into the suburb where the bunker is at. Let's go home.". The two then set off as the sun was still beginning it's ascension, shining on a new bond shared between two friends. Brothers.

* * *

**And There we go, we've seen how far Richard is willing to go to make sure he never fails anyone again. Now that these two are on their way to some much needed rest and relaxation the next couple chapters will focus on the other two groups in the story specifically. Next time we check in on Lynn's group as he and the McBride's continue their search for his family. See you all in about a week or two and be sure to leave any comments or reviews if you'd be so inclined and have a good night. **


	7. Hope For The Future

**Surprise dear readers! I didn't have much else to do so I was able to finish this quick chapter. This time we take a small look into the Loud's stay at Haven and a quick peek at Lincoln and Richard in the aftermath of Pete's compound. Hope you all enjoy the chapter. **

* * *

**Hope For The Future**

**September 3rd, 2019- Haven**

The Loud girls were huddled around the living room of their new home in Haven, voicing their opinions of the settlement and the residents they've run into so far. "This is literally the best place we've seen since the shelter back home". "I told you to never bring that place back up again!" Luna angrily said through gritted teeth. "Sorry..." Lori replied, forgetting that it was because of that shelter that Luna both found and lost Sam.

"Well since she brought it up, what if this place is hiding something. Just like those asshat government fools back then". Lynn suggested before being scolded for her use of language by her mother, which she promptly ignored. "But look at how happy everyone is here, and They've all been like super nice so far. Maybe this is what we've been searching for". Leni said with hopeful innocence. "It's only been a day, you can't gather one's true intentions from first glances, everyone has something dark to hide, this place could be the same". Lucy countered.

"Well either way, I don't think we should go stirring up trouble just yet. We don't want to get thrown out when this place could be the home we need". Rita then turned to Lynn jr. and Ronnie-Anne. "And that means no secret investigations either okay? At least not yet". The two girls looked to each other before turning back to Rita and nodding in agreement. "Thank you". Rita sighed in relief.

"Now today is a brand new day, Steve said that they'd hold off on assigning us jobs for a few days to let us get settled in. so take this freedom to get to know some of the people around here, ask questions but don't be pushy". Rita figured she'd take this chance to accept Steve's offer of hospitality and head over to his house.

She walked over to Steve's residence and knocked on the door, waiting a minute before someone responded that they were on their way. She could hear the lock being undone and a woman opened up the door. She was blonde and had a similar build to Rita, around the same height. "Hi… um?" "Meredith, Steve's better half. Pleased to meet you..." Meredith held out her hand to welcome Rita, who extended her own before introducing herself.

"Meredith that's right, Steve mentioned you. I'm Rita Loud. I just moved in a couple doors down with my girls". "Yes Steve mentioned you guys last night, I was surprised by how many you have with you. Are they all yours?"

Rita nodded. "Yes, all but Ronnie, but she's a part of our family nonetheless". "Geez did you and your husband ever hear of protection?" Her and Rita laughed before Meredith invited her inside for a cup of tea.

After pouring her and Rita's glass, Meredith sat down with her at the dining table to get to know one another better.

"So Steve didn't mention much, just that you and the girls arrived yesterday after being on the road for what? Over half the year?" Meredith began before taking a sip of her tea. "Yeah our family made it to one of those government shelters but that only lasted a month before we were forced to leave once the dead swarmed in. Then me and the girls have been on the road ever since".

"I'm guessing your husband didn't make it then since it's just you and the girls?"

Rita frowned as she remembered the last time she saw her husband. "We were separated when we escaped the shelter, he had our infant daughter Lily with him as well… I haven't seen either of them since".

"Wait. You have another daughter!?"

"Well actually me and Lynn, my husband, have eleven children total. One son and ten daughters".

Meredith stared at her dumbfounded. "Yeah..." Rita then listed off all of her children and how two are now gone and two are missing. She didn't believe Lincoln or Lily were dead, she knew they were still out there. Meredith expressed her sympathies before talking about her own family.

"I have three children, two boys and one girl. All of them are from a previous marriage, I don't have any children with Steve. Jennifer Lives here with us and Tom, my oldest, lives with his family next door". She then bit her bottom lip before talking about her last son.

"Then there's my youngest… he's, he's missing as well, I refuse to believe he's dead. No matter what anyone else says, a mother just..." "knows". Rita said in understanding. Meredith nodded.

Meredith and Rita continued chatting long after the tea was gone, getting to know each other and sharing stories of days past.

The day was half gone by the time Steve showed up and Rita stayed a little longer to chat with him as well before heading back to her house to check in with her children.

Lori was still home, not having left in the first place as she finally had a place to rest and needed it since she was almost due. Leni was the last one back, ecstatic at having already made some friends in Haven. Lucy had went against her mother's wishes and snuck around the town, hiding in the vents of the main hall while the council held one of their meetings. But her discovery was that they were just talking about the status of the settlement and the details of expansion, nothing of evil intent. At least not yet.

The others had all gone off on their own, finding various people to talk to and all came to the conclusion that this was just a normal boring community, which was perfectly fine considering the alternative. Everyone in Haven just seemed happy to be there and have a place that let them live, instead of worrying about whether they have enough food to survive. Lisa found her way to the medical home and had a decent chat with the only professional there, Dr. Johnson. Mentioning that her eldest sister was pregnant and that they'd need medical assistance when the time came.

Once Everyone was together, they all shared what they discovered, which wasn't too much. They all agreed that so far everything seemed fine and that there was no secret experiments going on or evil government stooges pulling the strings. Just normal people helping each other build a community to live through the apocalypse.

"Well don't let your guards down just yet, but I agree that we might have finally found the home we've been looking for. Now we should make sure that they know we can do our part and be vital parts in this community". Rita said before putting a smile on her face. "Now who wants to check the kitchen to see what we can make for dinner?"

All the girls perked up at the thought of not having to eat the same canned goods for once and immediately rushed the kitchen in search of something to eat.

**November 1st, 2019- The Bunker**

Lincoln and Richard walked through the suburban neighborhood that housed Rich's bunker home, the entire walk was silent, save for the birds in the distance and the sound of the leaves and brush blowing in the wind. Rich opened the door to the bunker and the two stepped inside, finally glad they were safe and sound.

The night beforehand still weighed heavy on their bodies and the scars they both had will be a constant reminder of it. "I'm guessing you want to take a shower just as much as I do so go ahead and take yours first, then we'll take a look at those wounds and change the bandages". Lincoln nodded and Rich slumped over to the couch, crashing down on it with a loud thud.

He closed his eyes and went to run his hand through his hair, only to rediscover that it wasn't there. Richard let out an audible sigh as he stared at his missing appendage. _"Least it was my left, Can't imagine how much more difficult things would be if old Righty was gone". _Rich didn't know it but Lincoln was still lingering by the edge of the hall, seeing Rich brooding, with a sad expression on his own face.

The boy turned and found his way to the bathroom, looking at himself in the mirror and seeing the bandages around the multiple injuries he received from Pete. **_"Could've been worse..."_**_ "Yeah but we have Rich to thank for things not going so far. I need to think of something to do for him". _Lincoln began undressing but hesitated when he reached for his pants, images of the night before flooding his mind. He clenched his eyes shut and forced those thoughts out of his mind before continuing and turning the shower on.

Back in the living room, Rich looked at the TV, his reflection staring back at him. Rich got up and turned the PlayStation on, preparing to make more progress on God Of War. When he picked up the controller however, he realized he'd need to learn to play with one hand now. Shaking his head he continued anyway, figuring he'd best start now.

Lincoln stepped out of the shower and began drying himself off when he heard a loud bang coming from the outside, followed by Richard screaming in profanity.

Lincoln quickly got dressed and walked out to the living room, seeing Richard, with his one good hand holding his head in frustration and the 'you are dead' screen illuminated on the TV.

"Are you okay Rich?" Lincoln said as he looked around the room and saw the controller on the ground. _"Must've been what the bang was" _Richard took a deep breath and removed his hand from his head, letting it swing limply by his side. "Yeah, I'm fine its just… gonna take some time Linc".

"I'm gonna take my shower then we'll change out these bandages". Rich then walked past Lincoln, not bothering to turn the game off as he did so. Lincoln hesitantly picked up the controller, which was still working and restarted from a checkpoint. He hoped Rich wouldn't mind if he played a bit, maybe he'd appreciate him helping get farther in the game.

Rich was now stood in front of the bathroom mirror, just now realizing the amount of blood still on his face, not his blood. He was surprised Lincoln didn't say something, or maybe clean him up a bit, but he shrugged it off as he looked down on his bandaged stump. He figured the water would do it some good, and he needed to see it anyway.

Rich carefully unwrapped the bandage and looked at the damage he did. Fortunately it didn't look too bad, it could've been a lot worse if they didn't take care of it last night.

He sighed as he turned the water on and stepped inside the shower, turning the water a little colder than he's used to so he didn't mess up his arm even more.

Once he was done he got dressed and made his way back out to the hall, hearing the sound of Lincoln playing the game he left on. _"hm wonder how he's doing. Probably better than I am right now". _

Richard walked into the living room to see Lincoln fighting one of the Valkyrie sub-bosses in the game and by the looks of its health bar he was almost done. Lincoln activated the spartan rage mode and finished it off, marking another one down and only one more to go. "Nice…definitely better than I was doing right?" Rich said with a smile.

"I hope it's alright… I wanted to give it a try and then one try turned into two and then..."

"Lincoln it's fine, I wasn't making much progress anyway. Gotta get used to this, probably shouldn't be diving right into a boss fight before actually learning to play right?" Lincoln chuckled a bit and Rich sat down next to him, asking for the controller. After a few minutes however he realized they still didn't take care of their patches and paused the game so they could put new ones on. Lincoln had to help Rich when it came to wrapping his up.

"Probably gonna have a nice scar on your cheek there dude, but chicks dig scars anyway. I'm sure Ronnie-Anne will be all over you haha". Lincoln blushed a bit and lightly punched Rich in his good arm. "Okay, okay. How does the arm feel?" Lincoln moved his right arm around a bit, feeling some pain, but nothing too major. "It still hurts a bit but nothing I can't handle. I'll just avoid putting any strain on it for now".

"Well we still have ten episodes to go on Fullmetal, want to get that finished up before we have dinner?" Lincoln nodded enthusiastically and Rich went over to the bookshelf to grab the last DVD out of the set. Part way through their marathon, Richard turned to Lincoln and jokingly said "So you know what this means right? I need to cut my leg off too and then I can cosplay as Ed". They both laughed, Lincoln's was more of a nervous laughter but he was glad that Richard was still cracking jokes at least.

"You know it's the wrong arm right?" Lincoln said through the laughter. "Hey, no cosplay is ever perfect am I right?"

"I don't know, I make a pretty convincing Ace Savvy" Lincoln joked. "Okay that I gotta see". Richard Laughed.

Once they were done with the last episode, the two boys got to work on making dinner. As they sat down to eat, Lincoln asked Rich a question. "So Rich, do… do you think that _your_ family is still out there? Have you ever tried to look for them?"

"I made my choice a long time ago Lincoln, I chose to abandon them and even though I once wished I could go back and change that, I wouldn't. I think things have turned out for the better anyway". Rich said as he smiled, and Lincoln could tell it was genuine. "I don't think the people I've helped would still be alive, and who knows they could be dead now, but they wouldn't have lasted as long as they did without my help..."

"...And then there's you. I couldn't in good conscious leave you to that hell, I'd leave my family over and over again if it meant I could save you from that. Despite my… fantasies, I could never allow a child to be abused in that manner, it makes me sick. I know. Confusing right?".

"Well, thank you Rich. But you didn't really answer my question. Do you think they're out there?" Lincoln asked. "Who knows? I certainly don't want to know because I feel like I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be. And if I know where they are then I'm going to want to stay".

The two went to bed after looking at the map and planning out their next searching locations, planning on staying out as long as they're able to before it becomes too difficult on account of the winter weather. Both slept soundly in spite of what they went through the night before, and woke up ready to continue the search.

**February 13th, 2020-Haven**

Rita was not in a mood to deal with anything today, nor anybody. Today was a day she didn't want to think about as it reminds her of what's not there: her son. Today is Lincoln's birthday, he'd be turning thirteen today and Rita hated that he wasn't here to celebrate that with them, they nearly forgot the last one as they'd been too worried about surviving on the road.

But now they had the chance, the opportunity to actually celebrate each other's birthdays, and he wasn't here. Lori had turned nineteen, given birth to a baby boy. Luna had turned seventeen a few months back, Lily would be three last month and Lisa was going to turn six next month. Her family was fractured and days like this hurt the most. Lori checked on her mom, who was confining herself to her room, and asked not to be disturbed.

"Mom? I know you wanted to be left alone… and I know why. But you need to eat something". Lori received silence in response. "Mom he wouldn't...he wouldn't want you to be like this. Be sad sure but he'd want us all to move on. You know how the little twerp was".

Rita knew her daughter was right and decided to make the effort and get out of bed. "Thank you". Lori said.

There was a knock on the door and Lynn Jr. was closest so she offered to get it. She opened the door to find Meredith standing there with some type of food dish in her hands. "Hi Lynn is your mother home? I brought some lasagna that Steve made the other night. I figured I'd share some with you guys".

"She's been moping in her room all day, hasn't been talking to anyone. I think Lori just went in to check on her". Lynn said in dismissive tone. Just then Rita came out of the room, wrapped in a robe that was kindly given to her by Meredith. As soon as she saw her mom, Lynn walked into the living room to avoid her. "Hey Rita, are you okay?"

Lynn Jr called out from the Living room. "She's probably just sad cause its the birthday of the son she abandoned!" Lori and Rita were in shock at Lynn's comment and Lori walked in the room to have a little 'chat' with her sporty sister. The sound of a loud slap could be heard from the hall and Rita held a hand up to her face to hide her crying eyes.

"I see… um maybe I should come back another time". "No, no It's fine Meredith. I'm… sorry about that".

"Nothing to apologize for, I…understand completely. So how old would he be?" Meredith questioned.

"He'd be thirteen, he's out there starting his teen years and I'm not there for it. I feel like I failed him, like I failed all of them". Rita said as she began breaking down in tears. "Rita you got them here in one piece, maybe not everyone, but you can't save everyone. No matter how hard you try".

"You did the best you could in the situation you were given. You were put in a place no mother should be put in and you did all you could. Don't feel bad when things could be much worse, A few people here don't even have any of their kids anymore". Meredith said.

She then brought up her own son. "You guys got here a month after his birthday would've been. I was in the same boat as you". Rita looked up to Meredith as she began speaking about her youngest.

"He would be twenty-four now, I imagine he's out there living some stupid fantasy. Sometimes I feel like he left, that he didn't make it because he couldn't but because he didn't want to".

"You still haven't even told me his name. It must be hard bringing him up". Rita sullenly said. "I don't know, I just haven't been able to say it for awhile. Lincoln and him sound alike in a lot of aspects. They both sound like big nerds".

"Yeah, and I signed Lincoln up for football because I felt like he needed to exercise". "I signed mine up for Karate… he didn't follow through to the end though". Meredith said. "Lincoln had his sister Lynn switch places with him, he didn't even play until the final game in the season". They both laughed at that fact.

After a few moments of silence Meredith spoke up again, this time more hesitant but she eventually managed to get the words out. "His, his name is Richard. Richard Jones...".

* * *

**Dun, dun, duuuuunnn. Yeah so coincidentally Richard's family is in the same location as Lincoln's. Who could've guessed that right!? LoL, anyway I hope you guys enjoyed this quick little chapter and I'll see you all in a week or two. Have a good one until then. **


	8. Torn Apart

**Hello dear readers and welcome to a new chapter. This time we check back in with Lynn sr. and the others on their Journey. We're about halfway through this story and then we move on to the final part in this trilogy. Enjoy. **

* * *

**Torn Apart**

**November 20th, 2019 **

Lynn's group had been on the road for too long, the search for his family had been one dead end after the other and they were tired of finding a whole lot of nothing. Harold and Howard were still keen on helping Lynn find his family but even they had a limit, they had their own son to think about. The group had turned over half the state in their search and were still no closer to finding the Loud's than when they started their journey.

They were currently on their way to their next search location, some suburban neighborhood about ten miles from where they currently were. The past few months have changed Lynn, after the discovery of his daughter Lana's grave he was colder with the others. And while it was a long time coming, he was also the final reason Chris decided to leave the group, figuring he'd be better off alone than with a group hopelessly lost in searching.

Harold had tried to get Lynn to open up, maybe let some of his anger out and be back to his old self but that hasn't worked out too well. Lynn kept assuring his friend that he was fine even though his heart weighed heavy with loss that never seemed to end. The group slowly passed by an abandoned warehouse and didn't notice the two pairs of eyes staring at them through one of the windows. The two strangers silently exited their hiding spot and raised their guns, preparing to rob the group.

They stood behind the group on the road and aimed their guns, the click of their rifles alerting the group to their presence. "Now I see those guns on your hips, I want you to slowly take them out of the holsters and toss them aside, otherwise the boy dies first". One of the men said as him and his partner kept their guns trained at the backs of Harold and Lynn. "W-we don't want any trouble. Please we have a baby with us. Just walk away and we'll forget this even happened". Howard said as he tried to reason with the men.

Lynn held Lily in his arms and began to turn around to show them his child before one of the men shot in the air. "Don't! Just throw whatever guns you have to the side and get on your knees". The gunshot scared Lily and she began crying, alerting a small herd nearby that the group hadn't noticed yet. Harold, Howard and Lynn each raised one of their hands, slowly grabbing their guns and tossing them off to the side before kneeling down in the road.

The two men circled around until they were in front of the group, still aiming their guns between the three older men. "Ho-ly shit. You do have a kid, I haven't seen a baby in what? Like half a year now".

The other man in the group spoke after his friend. "Well on account of that we won't take all you have, just half..." The man then gave a quick glance in Clyde's direction, who immediately turned his head away at the unwanted attention. The two men didn't know that Clyde kept a small gun strapped to his ankle and he was just waiting for the chance to use it.

"But we barely have anything as it is, I'm sure we can work something out here guys, you don't need to do this". Howard meekly said, hoping that these men would have some heart and just let them be.

"Unfortunately, some guy killed all our friends not too long ago and that's left us without a place to stay and now, not much food either. So we'll take half… then we'll be on our way".

"Fine." Lynn said as he began taking off his backpack, throwing it on the ground in front of one of the men.

"Just take the bag and leave, that should be more than enough for you". Lynn continued saying through gritted teeth.

Clyde began slowly lowering his hand to his ankle holster, he wasn't going to let these men take anything from them. He was scared to pull the trigger but if his friend could do it to protect his family then he could as well.

The nearby herd was getting closer and the group had finally taken notice of the amount of dead coming their way. Clyde took this chance to draw his gun and fire at the men, managing to hit one of them in the chest. But before he could line up the second shot, the man's partner quickly turned. And after noticing his friend falling to the ground, raised his gun in Clyde's direction. He fired and Clyde shut his eyes, bracing himself for the impact, which fortunately for him never came.

Unfortunately, it was because his dad, Howard had taken it instead, a small red spot beginning to form in the center of his chest as he stood there in silent shock, his eyes wide as dinner plates.

"Howie no!" Harold rushed to his husband, supporting him as he gently fell to the asphalt. Lynn set Lily on the ground, tackling the other shooter to the ground and beating him senseless. Clyde was still in shock to do anything, the whole thing happening in a blur. One second he thought he was going to save them all, taking down the bad men and being just like his bud Lincoln. Now his dad was on the ground, being held by his other dad who was crying while trying to stop the bleeding.

Lynn was still punching the second shooter, landing one hit after the other across the man's face, not giving him one second to defend himself. He then got up and grabbed the man's gun, aiming it down towards his face. He hesitated for a moment before closing his eyes and firing. The herd was close now, not giving the group much time to move.

Lynn knew this and grabbed Lily off the ground, strapping her into the harness around his back and quickly retrieving his pistol from the ground. Howard was barely conscious, almost succumbing to the gunshot wound in his chest. The bullet had lodged itself in one of his lungs and he was barely able to breath, he didn't have much time left.

"Harold, we need to go! I know you want to help him, to stay with him but he's gone. And we won't make it if we try to carry him out of here. I'm sorry but we need to go. It's what he'd want". Lynn said as he begged his friend to move. Harold just stayed where he was, his husband's head still in his lap as his tears dripped onto the pavement beneath him. Clyde was still in petrified in disbelief and hadn't even dropped the gun, which was now tightly held in his right hand.

"Harold!" "I know Lynn! Dammit just… just give me one fucking second!" Harold angrily shouted, and he didn't feel one ounce of remorse for it either. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Howie. I, I don't want to do this without you".

With his last bit of strength left inside him Howard slowly raised his hand, cupping his husband's tear stained cheek. "You won't be… alone. T-Take care of our baby boy, Clyde is going to need you. I-I-I know you'll do great. Y-you were Al-always the strong one. I, I love you".

"I love you too Howard. I love you so much". Harold then grabbed the gun by his side and put the barrel to his husband's head. After a few shaky breaths and a loud scream, he pulled the trigger.

The herd was almost on them now and some had already knelt down to begin eating the corpses of the two gunmen. "Clyde! Get over here!" Clyde snapped out of his haze and followed his father and Lynn as they ran from the herd. They only got so far before a larger herd than before stopped them dead in their tracks. The herd was in the middle of the road and left the group with two options, the forest on their right, or a large building that was halfway through its construction before the outbreak on their left. The sun was already starting to set and they mulled it over for a minute before deciding that While they had more possibility of being cornered in the building, they knew the forest would be more dangerous, especially with night falling soon. They could easily get separated.

They took their chances with the half finished six story building and made their way inside, with some of the infected soon following behind. The group decided to head up the stairs so they could use them as a choke point and hopefully find another stairwell to escape through on the opposite end of the building. Lynn took Lily from the harness on his back, feeling she'd be safer in his arms.

The trio ran into a few walkers on their way up and dealt with them, trying to find an easy exit to the other side of the building.

They stepped out into a hallway on the fourth floor and found no walkers in their immediate vicinity. They took a small respite but soon heard the growls of the walkers from beneath them slowly making their way up. "We gotta… keep moving". Harold said through bated breaths. The three ducked inside one of the unfinished rooms, that was connected to a few others, the inner walls not having been put up before construction had been halted. This made for a large open space, albeit one that was filled with a few walkers.

Lynn covered Lily as he whacked one across the face, causing the corpse to fall to the ground. Unfortunately for him, the floor wasn't fully stable yet and the walker fell through the unfinished floor, taking Lynn sr. with him. Lynn landed with a hard thud, sure that something was at least cracked if not fully broken. He heard low growling coming from nearby and opened his eyes. The room was nearly engulfed by darkness, only the faint amount of light still coming in from outside illuminating it.

He searched around for his wrench he'd been using to bash heads in for the past month but didn't feel it nearby.

He then sat up and looked around, still holding Lily up with one arm while his right was raised in front of his face. He finally saw the wrench a few feet in front of him, but said weapon was also in front of a hungry walker that had finally taken notice of Lynn. He immediately shoved it to the ground with his shoulder only to faintly see more roaming around in the room, barely visible in the darkened state of the room.

He heard Harold call from above him and saw his friend reaching his hand down to pull him up. Having managed to take care of the walkers that were on the upper floor. Lynn took his wrench and whacked a walker that had gotten too close, he then turned back up to his friend. "Lily first!" and he chucked his daughter up in the air, Harold managed to catch her and safely hand her off to Clyde. As soon as Harold reached his hand down again, a walker had gotten too close and latched itself onto Lynn's shoulder.

"Lynn!" Harold called out. Lynn yelped in pain and managed to elbow the walker off of him, he then picked up his wrench and smashed its face in when it fell to the ground. There were still a few walkers in the room, who were now advancing on Lynn's position, he clenched his eyes tightly shut before yelling for Harold to get out of there.

"Lynn no just take them out and grab my hand we're all getting out of here!" Lynn swung at two other walkers, knocking them to the ground and leaving a couple more left to deal with. "I'm… already gone Harold. Just, Just get Lily out of here please, I'll distract them so you can walk safely out the other side of the building". Lynn said between grunts as he dealt with the remaining walkers. Once the last of the walkers were dealt with Lynn could hear more groaning coming from nearby, and knew that those walkers were just the beginning.

"toss me a flashlight Harold. Then I want you to take my bag, take Lily and your son and get out of here. Wait till you hear me shouting and make a run for those stairs on the other side of the building. I'll draw them all to me". Lynn calmly directed his friend before tossing his bag up the hole in the floor. "Lynn no, Lily needs her father, we'll, we'll think of something just please come on". Harold pleaded with his friend, he just lost Howard, he couldn't lose Lynn too.

"I'm sorry but we both know there's nothing we can do. But there is one more thing I can do and I'm damned sure gonna do it. So go. Take my daughter and keep her safe".

Lynn then began walking out of the room he was in, but turned by the doorway and asked his friend for one last favor. "I know you've already done so much, and now Howard's gone because of it but… I want to ask if you can keep searching for them. Keep searching for my family Harold".

"Of course I will. I'll find them Lynn, if it's the last thing I do". Harold said with determination. "Thank you Harold. For everything. And Lily-bug… I love you". Lynn then turned with tears in his eyes and walked out into the hall.

Harold could hear the sound of grunting and Lynn's wrench smashing into walker heads. Harold sniffled before wiping his eyes and slowly walking over to the other staircase. He waited at the top of the steps to his floor and heard the shouts of Lynn from behind him on the floor below. "Come on you pieces of shit! I'm right here!". Harold then heard a few shots of gunfire and began making his way down the stairs with Lily in his arms and Clyde by his side.

Lynn's mind went to his family as he bashed in one walker skull after the other, taking out his gun to shoot a few of them as well. He pictured each of their faces and finally settled on Rita's smiling face. Once he was sure he created a big enough distraction, he fired more rounds into the walker crowds and used the last bullet for himself just as they cornered him. The last image in his mind was his family all grouped together, waiting for him in the afterlife.

Harold, Clyde and Lily made it safely back down to the first floor, only having to deal with a couple walkers on the way.

* * *

The sun was almost completely set on their side of the world and Harold needed to find a safe place for them to stay for the night. Him and Clyde carefully made their way through the forest and stumbled upon a cabin, which seemed abandoned. After making sure it was safe, Harold barricaded the door and checked on his son and Lily, who had begun crying. Harold was trying his best to shush the crying toddler and soon managed to get her calmed down.

He took a quick look outside to make sure the crying hadn't alerted anyone or thing to their presence and sighed in relief when nothing showed up. He slumped against the couch with a pained thud and Clyde soon joined him. Harold told his son to get some sleep, with Lily already asleep on the opposite end of the couch.

"I'm sorry..." Clyde quietly said. Harold barely heard him and asked what he meant. "If, if I h-hadn't shot him, t-then d-dad would still be..." Clyde then burst into tears, unable to finish his sentence. Harold shushed him and told him that he did nothing wrong, he was just trying to protect them, and that Howard would've been proud for how brave he had been the entire day.

Clyde cried himself to sleep in Harold's arms while Harold forced himself to stay awake, needing to stay on guard in case someone else found this cabin.

Once morning came Harold woke Clyde up and told him to eat something while he checked on Lily. She was still sound asleep and he hoped that she'd stay that way for a bit, he was completely lost now.

* * *

**November 25th, 2019 **

Harold walked through a town that him and Clyde found a couple days after their short stay in the cabin. They decided to stay here awhile to gather supplies and rest up for a bit. Harold wanted nothing more than to stay put and try and make a go at some type of home for him, Clyde and Lily, but he had a promise to keep.

As he stumbled through the town alone, Clyde was at their temporary camp watching Lily, Harold gathered up some food from a convenience store and had started making his way back. He entered the two story building that was some little family owned bodega, with the family's living space housed just above the store itself. He placed the board back across the front door and made his way up the stairs, already hearing the faint cries of Lily from the steps. _"__W__onder what it is this time". _

He entered the room to see Clyde trying to calm Lily by waving some of her toy in front of her but she wasn't having any of it. she'd fussed like this at least once a day since they lost Lynn, and Harold didn't know what to do anymore. They always managed to get her to calm down but in reality it was because she tired herself out, not on account of anything they did.

Her crying stopped when the bell rang from downstairs, indicating that someone or something just managed to get in through the front door. Harold readied his gun and stepped out into the hall, telling Clyde to stay put and guard Lily. Harold stood against the wall by the top of the steps and looked down to the first floor, not seeing anything yet.

Then the front of a rifle came into view before the man holding it started making his way to the staircase. Harold ducked back behind the wall before warning the stranger. "Whoever you are, me and my son already have dibs on this place! Just leave now and we'll stay here. No need for a fight. I already lost two people I care about in the past few days, and am in no mood to have anymore fucking problems".

"Who are you? I swear you sound familiar". The stranger asked. "My name's Harold, but I'm afraid I can't say the feelings mutual friend". He replied.

"Wait. Harold!? McBride?" the stranger asked. "yes?"

"Dude look down here. You really don't remember me after all we went through back at the start of all this?"

Harold looked back down the stairs to see the man had lowered his gun, and then he looked at the man's face and after thinking for a minute remembered who he was. "No way. Tom?"

"So you do remember me. It's not just me either I'm with a group of other people. You wanna come down here or?" Tom began before Harold offered Tom's group the second story that they'd made a temporary camp.

"Okay, let me just get the others". Harold walked back to the room and told Clyde that he just ran into a friend and that his group would be coming up, and telling him to behave. He then heard a knock on the door and was expecting Tom but instead came face to face with someone he didn't expect.

"Harold!?"

"Maria!?"

The two immediately drew each other into a friendly hug. Even though they barely knew one another before the world went down the crapper, there was still enough of a connection between them to feel great comfort from seeing a familiar face.

"Well hello there Harold. Didn't think I'd be seeing you again". Harold broke the hug to see another familiar face. Just coming up the steps was his other partner in crime from the shelter, Jack. He was accompanied by another woman and a little girl who couldn't have been more than ten or eleven. "Oh my god. Jack! I'm so glad to see you. And is this the family you mentioned back in the shelter?"

At this point Clyde stepped out into the hall with Lily by his side holding his hand. "Clyde! Is-is Ronnie or the others with you?" Maria excitedly asked. Clyde's gaze lowered to the ground and he couldn't find the words to tell her no. The group heard more footsteps and grunting coming from the stairs as another person was making their way up.

"Mom? You guys up there? Tom said that he found a place...to…stay". The young man's words died in his mouth when he saw the three familiar faces.

"Bobby!?" Clyde shouted in surprise.

"No way! Mr. McBride? Clydesdale? Wait I see Lily, but where's the others? where's Lori?" Bobby's face went from one of joy to worry within seconds. "it's… a long story. Once Tom gets up here I'll tell you guys everything. We haven't been having the best of days recently". Harold replied with heavy sadness weighing on his heart as he thought back to the recently deceased.

Tom was the last to make his way up and was smiling until he saw the depressed looks of everyone else in the group. "Geez I was gone maybe five minutes. What happened?"

"Come get set up in here, then we can talk". Harold then led Clyde inside and everyone followed, worried by whatever sad news Harold had to deliver.

* * *

**And we end with some good to offset the bad. Two people gone but a whole group of familiar faces return. For the longest time I had planned on Bobby staying dead, with just Maria showing up in Tom's group. the decision to keep him alive came just recently. Now I know what you're thinking, "Bobby was bit, how's he alive?" Well if you've watched enough zombie shows/movies you can guess. **

**Next chapter we check back in with Lincoln and Richard and continue Harold's meeting with Tom's group. Hope you guys enjoyed and see you next time on Returning Who Was Lost. **


	9. Losing Steam

**Hello all and welcome to a new chapter in Returning Who Was Lost. This time we start of with a rather intense scene before checking back in with Lincoln and Richard. There's only a few more chapters left and then we'll move on to the final part in this series, which I have finally gotten a name for. "What Was Missing" I'm going to be starting a different story here soon before brining you the next chapter in this story, so be on the lookout for that. **

**Now without further ado, I bring you the new chapter. I hope you all enjoy. **

* * *

**Losing Steam**

**November 3****rd****, 2019 **

It was late at night, and she was all alone in the woods, well unfortunately not completely alone. She was in a chase, with the predator quickly closing the distance between it and it's prey. They ducked under low hanging branches, hopping over barely visible obstacles sticking out of the earth. One trying desperately to escape for their life, while the other felt the thrill of the chase and longed to catch their prey.

All it took was one mistake, one slip, the prey tripping over an unseen branch jutting out of the ground, and the predator was on her.

The young girl thrashed about underneath the weight of her pursuer and screamed for help, even though she knew anyone close by was already dead. "No one's coming this time Lynn. It's just you. And me". The predator said with a dastardly grin, mouth stretching ear to ear.

Lynn recognized that voice. "Wha- Wait it can't… You're dead!"

"Aw I'm hurt. Please tell me you didn't really believe that? Was there even a search for me? For my body?"

"Of course there was! Why are you doing this!?" Lynn shouted in anger, as tears began forming in her eyes. She continued to struggle, her attempts proving futile under the surprising strength of her assailant.

"Because you all left me! I did everything for you, for all of you. And the one time I needed you guys the most… You turned your backs!" He spat back.

"That's not true! We tried. We almost died trying to save you!" Lynn said in her defense. "Well you didn't try hard enough! And I had to suffer in hell for two weeks. So now… I'm going to make you suffer the same way". A small grin flashed across the boy's face as he quickly moved his hands.

In a flash, he grabbed the collar of Lynn's shirt and tore it in half from top to bottom, leaving her in nothing but her red shorts and black sports bra.

"Lincoln! Please stop!" She screamed as the tears now began to fall from her eyes. She brought her hands up to resist when he ripped her shirt off but he quickly slapped her across the face before pinning her arms back to the dirt.

"They didn't stop when I begged them, so why should I!? They just took what they wanted! So that's what I'm gonna do". He angrily shot back. "B-but I'm your sister, d-doesn't that mean anything? This is wrong. We're family and this isn't you!" She pleaded, hoping that there was still some semblance of her dorky little brother left. Lincoln's glare softened a bit and he looked her dead in the eyes, with what Lynn assumed was a small amount of regret. "It wasn't me. Past tense. I think it's time you met the _new_ Lincoln". He smiled before crashing his lips onto Lynn's, immediately forcing his tongue inside her mouth before she had a chance to react.

She groaned from the unwanted kiss, trying to voice her protests as her brother's tongue assaulted her mouth. After a minute of wriggling his tongue every which way he pleased, he pulled away, a small trail of saliva lingering between the two before dropping off. "Huff* L-Lincoln huff* please… stop". He ignored her as his hands went to his belt and undid it. He shifted his weight to pull one of Lynn's arms out from under him.

Once he was sure he had a firm grip, he moved again to grab her other wrist, managing to use his belt to tie her arms together. He then pushed them over her head in one hand while he began using his other hand to explore her body.

He groped her developing breasts over the fabric of her bra while planting kisses across her neck, at times lingering as he sucked away. While she didn't want to admit it, what he was doing was making her feel good, her body at least. It was on fire as her brother sucked away at her neck and fondled her breasts. Against her will, she let out a light moan, turning her head to the side in shame.

"Yeah I didn't want it at first either, but eventually I started liking it too". "I'm not enjoying this! I-I don't want any of it". Lynn said through shaky breaths.

"Well while your mouth is saying no..." Lincoln forcefully lifted Lynn's bra over her head and moved his head close to her tits, his mouth just an inch away from her left nipple. "...You're body is saying yes". He then planted his mouth over Lynn's left breast, while using his right hand to tweak and knead her right nipple. After a couple minutes of sucking away, Lincoln brought his hand down to the hem of Lynn's shorts.

Lynn sucked in a breath as her brother's hand grazed over her womanhood. "Li-Lincoln! Please no".

"Shhh, we're getting to the good part..." Lincoln then sunk his middle finger insider her and her breath caught as his finger moved back and forth, wiggling around inside her. After a couple minutes he added another finger, Lincoln smiled at how her unwanted moans kept escaping her mouth as he toyed with her. After many minutes and a third finger later, Lincoln stopped. Removing his hand from her shorts and licking his fingers a bit. Lynn was panting heavily, her body now a shaking mess.

"I think someones ready for the main event". Lincoln said with an evil smirk.

He grabbed onto Lynn's shorts, tugging them off her and taking her panties with them. She tried to fight back but was left to weak from her brother's previous assault. He tossed her remaining clothes off to the side, with his sister now completely bare, her naked back covered in dirt and mud. She used what little strength she had left to turn on her stomach, attempting to crawl away.

Lincoln just stood behind her, not making any attempt at stopping her, as he knew she couldn't make it too far in her condition. He took his shirt off, throwing it in the same spot as Lynn's clothes and then began undoing his jeans. He continued his dead stare at Lynn's ass as she kept up her feeble attempt at escape. Once he undid his pants, he slid them off, kicking them to the side.

Now clad in nothing but his socks and underwear, Lincoln marched over to Lynn, who hadn't gotten too far away.

He got on top of her once more, straddling her thighs and pressing the upper part of his body into hers. "Can you feel it Lynn? Can you feel me as I beg for entrance?"

"Sniff* Lincoln… please don't. You can't do this". She whispered, her voice barely able to escape her throat. "Oh but I can..." Lincoln used his right hand to slide his underwear down his thighs, stopping at his knees. He pressed Lynn's head into the dirt, "… and I will". He aimed his cock at Lynn's entrance, the tip just barely pressing into her. He gripped her hips and slowly began pushing himself inside inch by inch.

After a slow, agonizing minute for Lynn, her brother's dick was fully sheathed inside her pussy. She managed to find enough of her voice to scream as he penetrated her barrier, which caused him to smile in pleasure.

He gave her a minute before he began to move, first slowly, at a rhythmic pace before beginning to pick up speed, being more erratic in his movements. With each new thrust, Lincoln pushed in harder and faster. The sounds of skin slapping joined the nightly sounds of the forest in the distance. "Damn, huff* Lynn you're, ngh so… tight. Umpf". After fifteen minutes that felt like hours for Lynn, she could feel her brother's dick pulsing inside her and she knew what was coming next.

"P-please… not, not inside. Please Linc". Lynn begged.

"Ngh, no… you're gonna be, unh the first of our… Ah, sisters to bear my child". Lincoln began thrusting faster. "Oh yeah, take it. Take it all you bitch". And with one last, powerful thrust, Lincoln buried himself deep inside and shot his seed deep inside his sister.

"No..." Lynn groaned out as she felt the warm sensation fill her insides.

* * *

Lincoln shot up in bed, covered in sweat. His breathing was erratic until he began taking in his surroundings and realized it was all just a dream. He could feel a wet spot in his orange sleep pants as he shifted on the bed and cringed when he realized what it was. He promptly got out of bed and changed into a new pair. He laid back down, even though he didn't want to go back to sleep in case he had another dream like that. He was now terrified by where his mind might take him. He couldn't fall back to sleep and stayed up worrying for the next three hours until he heard Richard getting up.

**November 4****th****, 2019**

Richard and Lincoln left the bunker around eight in the morning to resume their search. Rich tried to get Lincoln to leave the morning after they got back, insisting he was fine, but the boy was adamant about staying to rest up longer. Not taking no for an answer.

The two had practically searched over a third of the state so far, they found out too little too late that the Loud family stopped heading east and they tried to think of where to search next.

They didn't think the group would've went back to the town Rich found Lincoln in and asked if they might've possibly went home. Without any other ideas, he figured it was as good a chance as any and agreed with Rich to head back there.

"So where did you live Rich? you've never said". Lincoln decided to start a conversation to try and distract his thoughts from the night before. "Well me and my family lived in Ohio, close to the border between it and Michigan". Richard replied. "What made you decide to come up to Michigan out of all places when everything went down?" Richard shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, maybe I felt like the further I got from my family the better, figured I'd just start with out of state and see where the roads took me".

"So how far is Royal Woods again?" Richard asked, always being terrible with short term memory. "I'm not sure, the time we spent on the road kind of just blurred together. We also didn't take too many highways or main roads". Richard could sense something was off with Lincoln, something with the way he was talking and how he had been this morning.

The boy had been distracted most of the morning, staring off into space a lot and there was a hint of worry in his voice all day. He didn't think it was another nightmare since Lincoln didn't bother to wake him last night, but then again, the boy had been hesitant to speak about his issues for weeks now. Richard knew why that was but maybe he'd find a way to make Lincoln feel more comfortable to talk with him again. Rich was sure he could handle it without being weird.

"Linc-". "Something happened last night...". The boy interrupted Rich before he had a chance to even get his name out. _"Well that was easy". _

"Um, was it another nightmare?" Lincoln nodded.

"I-It was… different this time. Like the others in some ways but worse in others". Richard looked at him, worry in his eyes. The boy looked scared, almost more than he was when the two were held by Pete and his gang. Now Rich was starting to feel scared.

"Well don't hold anything back. I don't want you to feel like you can't talk to me about anything just because of… that, okay?" Richard assured Lincoln that he'd be fine and to lay it all on him, no judgments or accidental erections. "M- maybe I just won't get too detailed heh. Especially because of what happened".

Lincoln was in tears by the time he finished his retelling of the nightmare from last night. He glanced over and was surprised to see that Richard wasn't hiding any unwanted reactions either, which eased his mind slightly.

"Okay so you were chasing your sister Lynn, then once you caught her you…wow. Um, alright I get why you're so distressed".

Richard looked to Lincoln, who was wiping away the stray tears, trying his best to calm down.

"Okay first things first, I want to make this absolutely clear. You aren't a bad guy just because you dreamed about… that. Now this dream could mean a number of different things". Richard let out a small sigh as he wiped his hand over his brow.

"This could just be a one and done thing, some strange hormonal fueled fantasy, who knows? Or… it could be the start of a developing… fetish". Lincoln looked back at Rich in mild concern. "Now don't start worrying, there's more people that have rape fantasies than you might think. Most people are perfectly content with role-play or just "normal" sex okay? Doesn't mean you're gonna turn out like Jim or anything". The boy nodded in understanding.

"Another theory is that it was maybe just repressed anger manifesting itself like this. For most people, rape is about power, the control more than the sex itself. I can think of many reasons why this type of thing might… appeal to you". Richard said.

"I-in the dream, I wanted to show Lynn how it felt… to go through what I went through. I still don't know why it was her though?"

Richard thought on that for a second. It made sense for the kid to try and find some semblance of control, to get back what was taken from him. The times he was powerless against the people who wanted to use him, Jim, his people, and most recently Pete. His subconscious probably manifested this dream as a way to feel in control again, but as for the target of his fantasy…

"M-Maybe it's because… even though you saw yourself as the protector of your sisters, Lynn was maybe the person you saw as yours. You saved her from being raped before right? So maybe a part of you felt betrayed or something for her not returning the favor".

Lincoln pondered on this for a moment, what Richard was saying made some sense, but he was still unsure of which theory he believed the most. He'd be relieved if it was just a one time deal, his anger projecting itself as a dream. But part of him knew how he really felt. Even though he doesn't want to, and couldn't do that to Lynn, he couldn't deny that part of him enjoyed the way he felt last night.

"So… you- you're into that type of stuff right?" Lincoln asked. "yeah, I still try to keep fantasies consensual but that stuff 'really' gets me going. I hate it but I also accept that it's a part of me. I also know that actually doing something like that is just wrong, you're violating that person in one of the worst ways… but I'm sure I don't need to tell you that". Lincoln frowned before looking back to Rich.

"Fantasy not action right?" He said with a slight smile. Rich nodded in response.

"You're not a bad kid Lincoln, I know it and so should you. So don't feel like this quirk automatically makes you evil or something". Rich smiled at him and Lincoln smiled back. The two sat up from the side of the road and continued on their way to Royal Woods.

* * *

**November 25****th****, 2019**

Tom's group had gotten settled into the living space above the bodega that Harold, Clyde and Lily had made their temporary home.

Not everyone fit into the room that the three had already occupied so some of the others split off between the other rooms. Jack's daughter Lena, and Clyde took Lily into another room so the adults could catch up.

"Alright Harold, everyone's situated so tell me, where is my daughter, where's…" she hesitated as she looked at the door, thinking about baby Lily. "...where's the Loud's?" With a heavy sigh, one wrought with emotional exhaustion, Harold filled everyone in on their journey since the shelter.

"In the chaos of escaping from the shelter, our group got separated. By the time we could stop and rest it was just us, Lynn, Howard, and Chris. We made it to the Loud house but no one was there...".

Harold left out the detail about the dead body they found, not wanting to worry Maria. "We headed to a diner that Rita mentioned in a note she left, but again, no one was there. We've been searching for them ever since. Last I knew Ronnie was still with them and was fine, so was everyone else. Until..."

Harold hesitated for a moment, taking a couple deep breathes to regain his composure. He could still remember the anguish twisted across his friends face that day.

"We found a grave-site, it was Lana Loud's". Maria and Bobby shared a sharp gasp, tears beginning to well up in their eyes as the others frowned in sadness. "Lynn wasn't the same after that… then later that night we met a family, they told us a rather interesting fact. They apparently ran into Lincoln, except he wasn't with the others, he was with some older man".

"So wait. Little bro is with some stranger!? What about the others?" Bobby nearly shouted with concern lacing his tone. "Now don't worry about him, he's a tough kid. And from what the family said the man he was with was very nice and that Lincoln looked fine". This quelled Bobby's worry a bit and he sat back down next to his mother.

"Chris decided to leave our group after that, he was tired of always being on the move. Then… J-just a few days ago, we, we were attacked on the road". Maria held a hand over her mouth, already assuming the worst since she still hasn't seen Lynn or Howard. "Two guys. Cl-Clyde shot one but the other, he-he killed Howard". Harold broke down after that, not being able to keep it together any longer.

After taking a moment to recover, Harold finished the last part of his story. "Then L-Lynn. We had to escape a herd of the d-dead that blocked the road… w-we should've just ran through the woods dammit! Instead... Instead we chose to lose them in a building under construction. Lynn got bit and he distracted the rest of them so we could get out".

"I still have no fucking clue where the Loud's are, I-It's just me, Clyde and Lily now. I-I've barely been able to k-keep it together the past few days". Maria went over to her friend at this point and wrapped her arms around him. He wept into her shoulder as the others wiped away their own tears. Tom volunteered for guard duty that night and before everyone else headed off to bed, Bobby told Harold and Clyde how he was even alive.

His mother had stolen some medication from the hospital before she left and told Bobby that there was still one thing they could do. _I know this is gonna sound crazy but… we're gonna cut your arm off. It might be possible to stop the infection so long as the infected area can't spread further. _She used half of the heavy duty painkillers that she stole and Bobby was out within minutes.

Maria then quickly got to work on his arm, knowing how long it had been since he was bitten, she decided it was best to take off as much as she could and once she was done, Bobby was left with a small stump where his right arm used to be. They waited in the Loud House for days, and once Maria was one hundred percent sure that he was fine, they left for the shelter.

They tried to gain access but the guards out front told them that there wasn't anymore space so the Santiago's found a nearby home to stay at. As the state of the country continued to worsen, the two knew they wouldn't last too much longer with how many supplies they had left so they went off in search of more.

By the time they got back to the area near the shelter, they found the place in ruin, with no one alive left. The two were on the road for weeks before running into Tom, who already had Jack and his family with him.

Tom and Jack told them that they knew Ronnie and the Louds and how Jack saw them all make it out of the shelter, but lost track of them in the crowd not too long after.

"And we've been hanging around with them ever since, strength in numbers you know?" Bobby smiled. Harold was just relieved he wasn't alone with the kids anymore, he was with friends again. And for the first time in the week, he felt hope for the future.

* * *

**December 12****th****, 2019 **

Winter had come, snow blanketed the land. This was both a blessing and a curse for the remnants of humanity still trying to survive. The weather had made it hard to travel, not just for the living but for the dead as well. Walkers were slower now thanks to the snow, which made them easier to avoid or kill.

Richard and Lincoln were on the outskirts of Royal Woods, they made sure to take the main roads across state for the most direct path. It took longer than they thought it would on account of the occasional snow storm that hit, causing them to seek shelter for a couple days.

The closer the pair got to Lincoln's home town, the quieter the boy got. Rich could sense that something was off, but every time he pushed, Lincoln got defensive and assured him that everything was fine.

It wasn't.

Rich lied about the quality of his mental state for years before finally coming clean. He knew firsthand on how annoying it could be when people pushed too much however so he held back as much as his conscious would allow.

Rich wondered what the issue could be. Things between them seemed good, better than they've been. _"Could be recurring nightmares? But he hasn't woken up in terror or anguish for a while… that I know of. Could just be the trauma he's suffered. Something like that could take a while to move past, and even then". _

"That was the diner I told you about". Lincoln said as he pointed to the destroyed establishment. Rich shook his head awake as he looked at the building, shattered windows, bullet holes and a few of the dead still roaming inside. The two let off some steam by taking out the walkers that stumbled around inside the building before searching for any supplies. They found a pair of backpacks inside, with many supplies still left in both.

After leaving the diner the two came across a small shopping plaza, a clothing store caught the eye of Lincoln, giving him an idea. "Hey Rich, we only packed so many winter clothes, it'd help if we had some extra right?" Richard shrugged and followed the boy inside. The two split up once they saw the place was safe and Rich searched around for some clothes his size.

Once he found a few pairs of long-sleeved flannels and pants, he went off in search of Lincoln. "Over here Rich". The boy called out once he saw Rich passing by. He saw Lincoln by a display table, and it looked like he was working on something. Rich raised his brow in confusion as he started getting closer. "Wait, don't look! I'm not done yet". Lincoln exclaimed.

"Oohhh got a surprise for me eh? Okay, just let me know when you're done. I'll wait over here".

Richard pulled out his Nintendo Switch and started playing Skyrim as he patiently waited for Lincoln to finish his little project. The battery died before long and Rich sighed in annoyance. _"Damn, only got two more portable chargers left and I think the phone's almost out too". _

"Finished!" Lincoln shouted out.

Rich walked over to Lincoln, who had his hands behind his back. "Okay so I know what you're gonna say but… I still feel bad about what you did to save me over a month ago".

"You shouldn't feel bad about that, I've moved past it already".

"I know, I know, but still. I felt like I needed to do _something_ for you". Lincoln then brought his hands out from behind his back, holding out the object he'd been working on.

Richard's eyes widened as he stared at it, a prosthetic hand. The boy had taken the hand off a mannequin display and attached some type of harness to it. He had connected the leather harness to the hand using a few bolts, and hoped that the size would be alright.

"It might not be much… And I don't know if it'll even fit but I fig-" Rich held up his hand to interrupt him. "It looks great, let's see how it fits". Lincoln helped Rich fit the harness around his left arm. The top part acted as a shoulder strap, with a middle spot where his elbow would fit into, and finally the slot where his new hand would fit over the stump of his left arm.

Once everything was in place, Rich held up his new, fake hand next to his right one to compare. "Hmm, the size is actually pretty close, the harness fits pretty good too. This is awesome, thank you Lincoln".

"It was nothing, I had to do something for you after all you've done for me". The two smiled at each other and Rich got and idea to keep the good times rolling. "We're gonna have to find something to paint this guy, what do you think? Skin tone or something else?"

"Oh we should paint it something cool. Like maybe a demon hand or cyborg!" Rich chuckled to himself as he watched Lincoln's excitement at naming off the different possibilities, this was the most animated he'd seen the boy in a while.

"Tell you what, we'll talk more about it later. Let's get a move on, we still got a few miles to get to your house".

Lincoln's earlier joy immediately dissipated at the mention of his home, and this didn't go unnoticed by Rich either. "Okay, spill the beans already, What's the problem?"

"Huh? Nothing, every thing's good". He lied through a fake smile that, while it might've convinced those who didn't know better, was forced. "Alright fine. I'm not going to force the issue, but I know something's up, and when whatever it is gets to be too much I want you to promise me that you'll come talk to me".

Lincoln nodded but Richard wanted verbal confirmation. "I promise". He said, with a small smile that Rich could tell was more genuine.

* * *

The pair continued onward, finally making it to the former Loud residence as the evening sky was setting in. "So thirteen people lived in this one house? jeez it must've been cramped as hell". Rich joked. "Eh, it had its ups and downs". Lincoln mused as visions of happier times flashed across his mind.

"Door's off its hinges… I-I don't think anyone's here dude". Rich sullenly said.

_"__D__idn't think they would be, I just wanted to see it one more time"._Lincoln thought to himself. He followed Rich inside, and immediately cast his gaze to the corpse still on the floor by the couch.

Lincoln had to look away, he didn't want to think about that day again, the day everything changed inside him. He hasn't felt the same since he killed that man, even though he was just defending his family that didn't make the feeling of having taken a life go down any easier. In reality though the changes began long before that day, it really started when he took care of Luan, when he crushed her skull beneath the bat, something broke inside him. Something that hasn't been mended since.

Rich noticed his distress and walked over to the rotted corpse, dragging it outside the house and onto the sidewalk. The boy smiled in appreciation at his gesture and Richard silently nodded back.

The two headed upstairs and Lincoln showed Rich his former living arrangements. "Kinda small… but at least it was just you, everyone else had to share a room right?" Rich questioned. "Yeah, it wasn't much but I didn't mind, I had all the space I needed".

As the sun set, the two played a game of rock, paper, scissors to determine who had the first shift. Rich lost, and he had to stay up and keep on guard for anyone or anything trying to take them out. Richard wandered around the Loud House while Lincoln settled into his old room, sleeping in his old bed for the first time in almost a year.

Rich looked around at the various portraits hung on the walls and stopped when he reached a picture of the entire family sitting in front of the house. "Where are you guys?" Rich said as he stared at the happy family that was. He sat down on the couch and took a look around the living room, feeling down as he thought of the happy times this family had here, and how they were forced out. This was their home, and the Loud's were forced to abandon it because of the dead, and the living who didn't care about anyone but themselves.

_"Maybe when things get better they could come back here. Or maybe they already have somewhere better...". _Rich looked at the same photo again. "We are going to find you, no matter what it takes". After four hours Lincoln got up to switch shifts with Rich, who asked which room he was fine with him sleeping in. "Go ahead and take my parents room, I'm sure they wouldn't mind".

Once Richard was asleep, Lincoln walked through the former rooms of his sisters, taking a small memento from each room as he did so. He packed more of his usual attire of orange polo shirts into his backpack and grabbed more of his personal belongings to take with him, since he knew he wouldn't be coming back here for quite some time, if at all.

Once dawn reared its head, the two ate some breakfast at what used to be the adults dining table and Rich suggested they make this into another outpost. Lincoln was hesitant, he didn't really think about coming back here again, at least not without his family, but relented when Rich said it was just to have it here. "Doesn't mean we actually have to come back here again, it's just here with supplies if we need it".

The pair stashed some supplies in the basement before looking back at the map. "So where to next?" Rich asked as he slipped his jacket on, the cold wind was still blowing in from the space where the front door used to occupy. Lincoln was silent as he looked at the map, then turned his back, walking around to the couch, and plopping down on it with a heavy thud.

"Uh Linc? You okay man?" Rich walked over to the couch and sat down next to the boy. "I don't want to search anymore..."

"what!? Why? we're gonna find them eventually Lincoln. I promised you I'd bring you back to your family and I still fully intend to uphold that promise, no matter how long it takes".

"That's just it though Rich, how long will it take? I'm getting tired of false hope. Getting my hopes up and then having them crushed just as quickly. T-they could be anywhere, we've searched for so long now and haven't found any clues since..."

Lincoln remembered the town his family stayed at, the same one where Lana died in. He'd never forget the moment he read those words in the letter, and once he saw who it was, his heart broke.

"They're out there Lincoln and I-I know that it sucks to keep coming up empty handed but we are going to find them. Don't lose hope when we still haven't even searched the entire state yet".

Rich looked into Lincoln's eyes, not seeing any change in them to tell whether he believed Rich or not. "Okay, tell ya what. Let's just head back to the bunker, wait out the winter and see where things go from there?" Lincoln nodded his head and the two went off in the direction of Richard's home, which Lincoln had begun thinking of his home as well.

He knew Richard meant well, but they were still no closer to finding his family than they were months ago. And part of Lincoln didn't want to see them again, fearing of how they'll see him. He wasn't the same son/brother they used to know and he didn't know if they'd accept him the way he was now.

Jim's people changed something inside him and he still hasn't told Richard just how much either…

* * *

**So feel free to offer up any suggestions on Richard's new hand design. I plan on giving him more than the one that Lincoln gives him here. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and be on the lookout for my next story that I'm just getting started on tonight, It'll be back in the normal Loud universe, no zombies, and possibly will include Loudcest. Anyways have a good one and see you next time on Returning Who Was Lost!**


	10. The Whole Deal

**Hello Dear Readers! Hope you've all been well, today I bring you a new chapter in Returning Who Was Lost. This chapter will take one last look at Lincoln's time with Jim's gang and we'll check in with Harold and the others after joining Tom's group. **

**Hope you guys enjoy, and if you haven't already go check out my other story I started called Unwanted Feelings. Got a bit of a ride planned for that story. Anyways without further ado I bring you the new chapter. **

**During the flashback sequence:**

'_this is Lincoln and Rich in the present talking about the past'_

_"_this is dialogue in the past"

* * *

**The Whole Deal**

**January 5th, 2020**

Winter had begun to calm down, as the season started entering its change to spring. The snowfall still wouldn't be finished for another couple weeks, however, the worst has passed.

Lincoln and Richard had just arrived at their bunker a couple hours before noon.

On their journey back, Rich had tried to get Lincoln to open up more, but to no avail. Richard had a feeling that the boy hid a deeper reason for wanting to put a halt on their search, but he didn't push as much as he should've.

Kicking off their shoes, the two entered the bunker, shutting and locking the door behind them. Lincoln immediately went to the fridge, grabbing a coke from it before heading off to his room, not saying a word to Rich. "Well I guess I'll just eat lunch alone then...". Richard was beginning to worry more and more about the boy's mental state.

He felt it was about more than just his family, maybe even more than that recent fantasy he had. He didn't know how else to reach the kid either though. He'd tried time and time again while on the road to get him to open up but the boy remained distant, cold.

Richard was barely in touch with his own emotions, he knew the boy needed someone better, a professional. But he put his money on most of those professionals being gone, their expertise lost to the new world. Rich figured the next best thing would be people who cared.

And while Richard cared, he was thinking more along the lines of family, but now Lincoln didn't even want to keep searching for them. The reason being that he was tired of finding nothing over and over again, losing hope one stop after the other. But Richard knew they were still out there, and he was determined to find them, even if he had to do it without Lincoln.

Back in the boy's room, Lincoln laid on his bed, his eyes frozen on the ceiling, watching the fan slowly rotate. **_"Rich has been trying to help you, why have you been shutting him out?" _**

_"you're supposed to be a part of me, shouldn't you already know?" _

"**_Well yes. But I still want you to say it so you can hear how stupid you sound". _**_"It's a valid reason, you know it is". _

**_"No matter what you think, you didn't ask for any of that Lincoln, contrary to what actually happened, you know the reality of the situation". _**

Lincoln was about to respond when he heard a knock at his door. He sighed as he rose from the bed, opening the door to see Richard with a controller in hand shaking it slightly. "Whaddya say? Up for a game or two?" He asked with a smile.

"Maybe later Rich. I'm just kinda tired".

"Well you didn't eat any lunch, you hungry?" Lincoln pinched the bridge of his nose in mild annoyance, he really just wanted to be left in peace. He felt like he was living with ten sisters again. "I'll eat something later, like I said… I'm just a little tired is all".

Richard's expression changed from one of pleading happiness to that of a stern general ready to give orders. "Then I tell ya what. I want you to spend the next four hours thinking and preparing".

"Preparing for what exactly?" Lincoln asked with a brow raised. "For a talk. You're gonna lay all your cards on the table, I know you're still hiding something from me". Richard said as he pointed his finger at the boy, who was about to protest. "I'm no-"

"Don't lie! Sigh* sorry, didn't mean to yell. Whatever it is… it's bothering you. You've been cold, withdrawn and I really want to know why. So tonight at dinner, I want you to please, talk to me".

Richard then headed back out into the living room, not giving Lincoln the chance to say no. He went over to the bookcase and pulled out a random season of Game Of Thrones to watch. Unfortunately the end of the world couldn't wait a few more months so the final season had a chance to air, something that still got Rich a little mad.

* * *

**May 5****th****, 2020 **

Harold, now with Tom and the rest of his group, were on the move across the state. Just a couple days back, they had come across a sign in the road. "Haven: Sanctuary to those who need it".

Harold had thought it was strange that he never saw the sign before, since he came through here when he was still with Lynn and the others. "Eh, maybe they put it up after you guys passed through. It could still be a developing community or something". Tom said. The dirt around the base of the sign gave evidence to that theory, considering it looked fresh, like it was put up in the past couple days.

"Based off that map on the sign, we still got a couple days of travel before we make it there".

"I still don't see why we can't just drive there?" Bobby whined. "As I've said before, we'd need multiple cars now, enough gas for both of them for it to be worth it. And the roads are too blocked as it is..."

"And cars bring too much attention etcetera, etcetera…Still I think the journey would be easier if we drove". Maria thumped her son in the back of his head. "Don't be rude Bobby. While I'd love to relax in a car, I'm with Tom on this one. It's safer this way".

The group settled down in an abandoned two-story house for the night. Looking at the map and seeing that they had actually made more progress than they though they did. "If we move like we did today then we might actually make it to this place before dinner time tomorrow".

"Maybe this little one's family will even be there". Jack said as he dangled a toy in front of Lily's face.

"I hope… I don't know what we'll do otherwise. If the Loud family isn't in Haven then I don't know if we can stay, I made a promise". Harold said. "Jack, you okay to take the second shift tonight? I'll stay guard first". Tom asked him, with Jack nodding his head in response.

"Alright, I want everyone else to get a good night's rest. We head out early tomorrow morning".

* * *

**January 5th, 2020**

It was six in the afternoon, Richard had made some barbecue chicken in the oven with a few baked potatoes to go along with it. The timer had just gone off and Rich called out to Lincoln that dinner was ready. Once everything was set, Lincoln wandered out of his room, grabbing his plate that Rich already made for him.

The two sat down and started digging in to their food. After giving Lincoln a minute to eat, Richard decided to start the conversation. "So… you ready to talk? Cause I ain't lettin you leave this room till you do. I know I shouldn't be forcing the subject like this but I feel like you'd just keep hiding everything otherwise".

Lincoln cut another piece off his chicken and ate it, sighing in defeat after a moment to talk to Rich. "I-It's complicated". Was all he said.

"Well most things in life are Lincoln, but please, try anyway. Lay it all on the table man, I'm all ears".

"Y-you, you'll look at me different. And I doubt you'll be able to say anything that'll change how I feel. The problems been going on for awhile, since before you and I met". Lincoln then took a second to shovel more food in his mouth, taking a drink of his soda before continuing.

"I-I only told you about the first two days in that hotel, b-because… because I don't want to think about the rest. A-about who I t-turned into, what t-th-they did".

"As I've said, whatever happened there wasn't your fault, you did what you could. You didn't ask for any of it so I st-"

"BUT I DID!"

There it was. The simple fact that Lincoln hated thinking about, he blurted it out as he slammed his fists into the table, rattling the silverware and plates on it.

"J-Jim made g-good on his fucking promise… the one ab-about me b-begging for his..." Tears were now forming in his eyes as he thought back to those times after Jim had his fun. Rich held his hand out, hesitating for just a second before calmly placing it on the boy's shoulder. He flinched slightly but didn't pull away.

"T-tell me. All of it… I'm sure I'll be able to show you how your wrong. Whatever you think about the way it went down, I'm sure there's a better explanation".

"Sniff* o-on the third day…"

* * *

**June 13th, 2019**

Lincoln woke up a few hours before noon, Jim was absent from the bed, and Lincoln was glad he didn't have to wake up to that bastard's face. The night before, Jim grew tired of making deals with Lincoln, and took him by force. Lincoln never put too much thought into sex or anything like that, anytime he did, he thought his first time would be with someone like Ronnie-Anne...not someone like Jim.

Lincoln thought back to last night, tears threatening to begin anew as flashes of Jim leaning over him, thrusting back and forth as he took what he wanted. Lincoln quickly wiped his tears once he heard the door to the suite being opened, not wanting to give Jim the satisfaction of seeing him like that. He could hear the footsteps grow louder as they got closer to the door, soon the door opened, revealing Jim with another tray of food for the boy.

"Now I know you probably hate my guts right now but trust me when I say that you're really gonna want to eat something before your day begins. Last night was just the tip of the iceberg for your stay here". Jim calmly said as he set the tray of food down at the foot of the bed, walking back towards the bedroom door and shutting it. "I'm gonna warn you now, you got three people already lined up for today, couple guys and a chick… not all at once. They each paid for a private hour with you".

Lincoln glared daggers at Jim as he told him of his impending torture for the day, it was times like this when Lincoln wished he was stronger, maybe then he could fight them off and escape.

_'Hey If you want to get stronger I can work up a good training regiment for you. I'm not too strong myself but it's enough to get by'. _Rich said as he picked up on the boy's frustration at not being strong enough to fully fight off Jim or Pete. He'd help the boy make sure no one could do that to him ever again. _'Sorry for interrupting, continue'. _

_ 'So as I was saying, Jim walked out of the room as I ate the food he brought me'. _Lincoln said as he continued his recounting of the rest of his time in the hotel.

Lincoln finished off the food that Jim brought him, trying to fiddle with his ankle cuff once more even though he knew it was useless. It was noon by the time Jim came back for him, undoing the chain and forcing Lincoln out of the room and down to the fourth floor. "Welcome to where you'll be spending most of your days here now. This is where everyone who pays gets to have their fun". Jim shoved Lincoln inside and locked the door from the outside, Lincoln still tried the handle but couldn't get the door open.

The boy sighed in defeat as he took in his surroundings, looking for any ways out or anything he could use to fight whoever came through that door off. He took note of the dirty mattress in the back right corner of the room, no bed frame or anything, just a stained mattress on the floor. Lincoln fought back the bile forming in his throat as he realized what those various stains were. He shook his head and found that other than the bed, there wasn't much else in terms of furniture, just a table and a few chairs around the room.

There was a window that was blocked with a bunch of old newspapers taped over it, obstructing his view of the outside but letting a little light shine in the room. He quickly turned around once he heard the door unlocking, preparing himself to fight whoever came through it.

A portly white guy walked in wearing a wife beater and blue jeans, the man was practically bald save for the small amount of hair he had towards the back of his head. "H-hey there… Lincoln right? M-my name's Craig and I gotta say, Jim was right about your looks". Lincoln almost threw up in his mouth at the man's comment, just another sicko looking for his kicks.

"So how do you want to start?" Craig asked Lincoln, somehow oblivious to the fact that the boy didn't want to start anywhere but the exit. "Howabout we start with me leaving and never coming back?" Lincoln joked. "Well that'd be no fun". The man replied with a light chuckle as he began advancing on the boy's position. "Stay back!" Lincoln shouted, putting up his fists, ready to fight.

Once Craig was within range, Lincoln threw a large right hook, hoping to make the man stumble back enough so he could run out the door. He didn't hear the lock being re-done so he should be able to just burst right out, he just needed a few seconds. Unfortunately for him, his strength failed him and his hit to Craig's chest hardly did anything. Lincoln looked up at him and Craig smiled down, quickly grabbing Lincoln by his wrists and pushing him against the back wall, planting his lips on the boys'.

_'__Not going into detail about that but let's just say… he didn't waste much in the hour he "paid" for' _Lincoln told Rich in disgust. _'I can't remember the name of the guy that came after him, I just remember it wasn't as bad. But that's mainly because I don't actually remember much'. _Lincoln said as he wiped his nose, Rich handed him a box of tissues, which the boy gladly accepted.

_ 'Then there was some older woman that came in, her name was Heather I think, s-she was more… gentle than the others. But still just did what she wanted, no matter how many times I protested'. _

After Heather finished having her way with Lincoln, she left him alone in the room. He was too weak to move off of the stained mattress she took advantage of him on. He threw up on the floor after the thought came across his mind that now his 'stains' were a part of the mattress as well.

_"Is this what my life is going to be from now on… used as some damn sex toy for these assholes?" _Lincoln thought as he cleaned his face as best he could. He lay there shaking cold for the next ten minutes, not having the strength to move from the bed, until the door opened once more as Jim stepped through. This time leaving the door open. "I tried to warn you kid… should've taken my deal". He plainly said before picking up Lincoln's clothes, which now had a few tears and hols in them from his earlier struggles. Jim told the boy to get dressed and he'd grab him some dinner before heading back up to his room.

Lincoln slowly put his clothes back on, wincing in pain as the fabric passed over various parts of his bruised body. He noticed the open door, Jim's back was turned to him as he smoked a cigarette on the opposite end of the room. _"He must think I'm too weak to do anything. he's only partly right". _Lincoln then gathered every ounce of strength he could muster and bolted out of the room. Making it to the door for the stairs until he felt hands on his shoulders.

"Not. Smart". Jim said as he pushed Lincoln to the ground. He then took his lit cigarette and jammed it against the boy's left hand.

_'I, __uh...__can't help but notice that there's… more than one'. _Richard said as he stared at Lincoln's left arm. Lincoln lightly clasped his other hand over some of the marks as he stared off into space.

Lincoln said nothing in reply before continuing on with his story.

_'__The rest of the night was uneventful, Jim left me alone after bringing me something else to eat. I barely got any sleep that night'. _

_ 'The next couple days were practically the same, it wasn't until the end of that first week that things got worse...' _

Jim brought Lincoln back down to the room he's come to dread since being brought here. Jim mentioned something about this time being different, and he told Lincoln that he asked the people not to be too rough but he couldn't promise anything. Lincoln wondered what he meant by that, considering the people so far hadn't been very gentle at all.

He realized what Jim's comment was about when four men stepped through the door instead of just one, at that point Lincoln knew this was going to be different.

_'__That was probably the worst day I had there. It was more sniff* than just the one hour too. It felt like the entire day, over and over again, and it wasn't just… sex either. T-they b-beat me t-th-they…' _

_ 'You don't have to say anymore… we can stop whenever you want'. _Richard told him, lightly caressing the boy's back and using the sleeve on his other arm to wipe away his own tears.

_'__I-I'm guessing that, you… that you asked Jim, that you took his deal so you wouldn't have to go through that much pain again'. _Lincoln nodded in response, wiping away his remaining tears before getting the point he's been trying to reach.

'_L-later that day… after they were done. I asked him if he'd still honor that deal. H-he was… he fucking hesitated, wanting more than for me to just ask. That bastard, the damn pig wanted me to beg! S-so… swallowing what little dignity I still had, I did'. _

Lincoln got on his knees in front of Jim, tears now ready to spring forth from his eyes at a moments notice. "P-please… sniff* g-give me-" Jim held his hand up to stop Lincoln. "Later, I think you deserve something to eat first. Before bed however, I want you to ask again". Jim then left the room, not even bothering to redo Lincoln's ankle cuff to the bed.

Later that night Lincoln finished his earlier plea, and "willingly" took care of Jim.

_'__Everyday after that, for the next week. I stayed only with him… so long as I did a good job. I fucking begged for it and I-I-I...' _

Richard pulled him into a hug, Lincoln's legs soon gave out once he was pulled from his chair into Rich's embrace and the two fell to their knees. "Y-you were fucking forced Lincoln! Alright, nothing about what happened there was you really wanting it, so don't you dare think that you did. That asshole forced you into that position and no matter what you think, no matter what happened, you didn't really ask for it because you wanted to".

"B-but I-" Lincoln tried to start before he was once again shushed by Richard. "No! You asked… you asked for it because you needed to, otherwise you might not have survived too many more days at the hands of the others. This was you trying to survive so that you could one day make it past this… and look at you now. you're here and they aren't".

Lincoln's sobs slowly began to calm down as those words sunk into his head.

"You did what you had to do to survive, nothing more, nothing less. They didn't turn you into anything but a survivor".

Lincoln sucked up the last of his tears, slowly pulling away from Rich's hug. "T-thanks… I-you're right".

"You've gone through more than anyone should have to go through in their lifetime. You came out on top, I don't think of you any differently because of this. You did what you had to do and you're stronger now because of it. And I'm sure your family would see it the same way".

Lincoln looked up to Rich. "I assume that's the real reason you don't want to keep looking for them. Cause you think that you did wrong, that you don't deserve to be back with them or something. Or maybe cause they'll see you differently. But that's just you being a fucking idiot". Rich finished with a smile.

Lincoln glanced towards the ground before Rich continued. "They won't care what you did to get back to them, they'll just care that you're back. I'm sure they'll tell you the same things I've said. You're strong. None of this was your fault, so stop feeling like it is".

Lincoln nodded his head in agreement, wiping his nose one more time before giving Rich a quick hug. "I-if it's all the same to you… I'd still like to stay here longer. I want to just take it easy for a while you know? Maybe try living instead of just surviving". Lincoln suggested.

"Well I can agree with that, so long as we head back out eventually. I'm sure they miss you more than you know". Lincoln smiled before giving his reply. "I know they're out there, and once I feel up to it… we are going to find them". Lincoln said with a newfound determination in his voice.

"That's the spirit White Haired Wonder".

Lincoln sighed before chuckling a bit. "Okay, maybe that name isn't so bad". They both laughed before heading back to the table and finishing their dinner.

* * *

**May 6****th****, 2020 **

Tom's group continued down the road, coming up on the location that was supposed to be their Haven. "Depending on how big this place is, we should be coming up on it pretty soon. Everyone be on your best behaviors now". Tom said.

After a few more moments the group saw The walls guarding Haven come into view. They got closer and the guard took notice, shouting for them to put their hands up, which they readily obliged. "Keep those hands up until we've had a chance to search you, this is a place of peace and we hope to keep it that way". The man defending the front gate informed them.

The front gate slid open and the group walked inside, seeing the various members of the community walking about like the world hadn't ended. The group was greeted by a man pushing an empty cart towards them. "Hey there, My name's Steve Hartwell, Welcome to our little community. I know we just met but may I ask you to put your weapons on the cart here, you'll get them back once we know you won't cause any problems".

Harold and the others looked to one another, silently deciding between each other on whether or not this was their best move. "I can assure you, we are just simple people trying to rebuild what was lost when the dead rose, Once we know it's safe to have you here, they'll be returned. No issues".

Tom was the first to walk up and removed the rifle he had around his back, the others soon followed behind him. Once all the guns, and various melee weapons were put down, Steve motioned for the group to follow him. They didn't get very far before they heard the shout of a familiar voice.

"Mom!?"

The group turned to see Ronnie-Anne standing in the middle of the street, staring at the group in disbelief. But it wasn't Maria who reacted first, instead Bobby moved out from behind Harold to meet his sister's gaze and her eyes lit up like lights on a Christmas tree.

"Ronnie!" Bobby ran to his little sister and scooped her up with his one good arm, spinning her around once before setting her back down. She was still too surprised by the fact that he was even alive to react in any way.

She regained her senses as she stared into the eyes of her brother she thought was long dead, tears forming in both her eyes and his as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Well I suddenly have a feeling you guys won't be an issue". Steve said with a smile as he looked on at the scene with the rest of the group.

Maria then ran to her children and joined hem in a group hug.

Their reunion wasn't the only one to be had this day though, as if on cue Rita Loud stepped out of her house. She could hear the commotion and wondered what was going on, seeing a rather large group towards the front gate. Her eyes widened once she saw Maria and Bobby wrapped in a loving embrace with their lost family member. She then turned her attention back to the group and Rita gasped once she saw her.

"Lily!?"

The group turned their attention towards the Loud Matriarch as she quickly made her way over to the group. Harold smiled before setting the little girl down. Without hesitation, she ran to her mother as best as her little legs could let her. "Mommy!" Rita lifted her youngest daughter into her arms, crying tears of joy at finally being reunited.

Harold made his way over to the pair, his earlier joy faltering as he knew the news he would soon have to deliver to Rita. But as he saw the look on her face, the pure bliss she was in at having Lily back in her arms, he put the smile back on his face, opting to tell her later.

All that mattered now was that two families were being reunited, and He couldn't be happier.

* * *

**Yay for happy reunions! Now that Harold and the others have made it to Haven that just leaves one more group till everyone's in the same location. And we already know That Richard makes it there in the coming months, so where was Lincoln? Well we got two more chapters to find out! I'll try and have the next one up in a week, but who knows, I'm technically working on three stories at once now. **

**Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and I'll see you next time on Returning Who Was Lost. **


	11. Reunion

**Hello dear readers! Hope you're all doing well. Today I bring you the penultimate chapter in Returning Who Was Lost. Hope you all enjoy, and I should have an update for Unwanted Feelings in the next few days as well. **

* * *

**Reunited**

** May 6th, 2020**

After the initial reunions between the Santiagos, McBrides and the matriarch of the Loud family, Rita gave her quick hello's to the rest of the people in Tom's group. The rest of the group followed Steve to the community hall for their introductions, which Harold and the rest who stayed would take care of later.

Rita led Harold and the others to the new Loud House, telling Harold and them that she'd gather up the girls to join them. "Lori's going to be through the roof once she sees you Bobby, I-I still can't believe you're here". She said as she hugged the young man.

"Um, before I go, Harold… d-do you uh, know what h-happened to Lynn?" Rita cautiously asked, as she knew that her husband had Lily. And if she's here but not him…

Harold's change in demeanor was all she needed to figure it out and in a way she was relieved, because at least now she knew for certain. She'd mourn for him later, now she needed to see her girl's smiles. "O-okay, you guys wait in here while I gather everyone in the living room, then I want you to bring Lily in when I call. Then after giving the girls a moment with her, the rest of you come in". She told them as she wanted this to go just right.

It took a bit for Rita to gather up her daughters to the living room. She simply said that she had a surprise for them all, one they'd really enjoy. "So girls, we had some new arrivals today, and well… lets just say you'll recognize more than a few of them". She smiled.

"You can come in now!" She called out and Harold walked in with Clyde by his side and Lily in his arms, handing her off to Rita as he entered.

One by one the girl's eyes widened in shock, too stunned to believe what they were seeing. Leni was the first to react. She screamed in excitement, hopping over the chair in front of her and running up to her mother, scooping up Lily in her arms. "Lily! I'm l-like totes happy to see you! We-we thought you were gone". Leni shouted with joy as she spun her baby sister in her arms, with Lily giggling in response.

"Come on let's go see the rest of our sisters". Leni said as she was now cradling Lily in her arms. Lily looked around the room, but noticed that there was a certain someone missing. "Lincy?" Lily asked.

Leni stopped dead in her tracks after hearing his name, the whole room was now filled with an icy coldness that served to ruin the moment. Lori stepped forward, needing to switch the topic so the scene didn't turn all gloom and doom before it had a chance to really start. She set down Bobby Jr. on the couch and made her way to Leni.

In the most soothing voice she could muster, she spoke to Lily as she picked her up in her arms. "Sorry, Lily. L-Lincoln's not… here". She said with a slight frown before smiling again.

"But you are! And so is mom, Leni, Luna, Lynn, Lucy, Lola, Lisa, and… Me. The best sister of all".

That comment seemed to do the trick as the rest of the sisters started to argue about who was the best. Each of them trying to gain Lily's attention and get her to agree with them.

Lori smiled as her work as big sister was done, sitting down on the couch with her son and watching the other sisters have a moment with Lily.

Rita started crying tears of joy as she watched her daughter's smile like they did before this apocalypse even started. But she knew that she had to interrupt for the others to make their entrance. "D-don't forget Harold and Clyde now dears, Lily wouldn't even be here if it weren't for them".

The girls looked over to see the McBrides waving at them from the other side of the room.

Before walking over to the Loud girls with his son, Harold whispered to Rita that he needed to talk to her about Lincoln later. She quickly asked if he knew where her son was. "Unfortunately no, but I might know more than you since I feel like he's been gone for awhile now. But later, right now we have another special reunion to make don't we?" He asked as he motioned towards the kitchen.

After giving the girls a quick moment to talk with the McBrides, Rita grabbed their attention once more. "Uh, girls? There's actually two more people who wanted to come in and say hi". She let her gaze linger on Lori before calling the Santiago family in.

Maria was the first to enter the room, with her daughter nearly attached to her at the hip. And following close behind her was her son, who held his head down until they heard the sharp gasp from Lori.

He looked up and his eyes met hers, tears were already threatening to spring from his eyes as soon as he looked at her. But his attention was quickly brought to the child she held in her arms, his child.

Bobby held his one good hand up to his mouth, his whole body shaking as he looked at the bundle of joy resting in Lori's arms. "L-Lori? I-I-Is that? Ours?" He managed to croak out. All Lori could do in response was nod her head.

Bobby slowly found the courage to move, and began to walk over to the couch. Lori stood up as he got closer, still in disbelief at the ghost she saw before her. Once he pressed his warm palm to her cheek however, she knew this was no specter, this was her boo-boo bear and he was alive. "B-babe?"

That was enough to break Lori from her petrified state, she burst into tears as she wrapped one of her arms around his neck, burrowing her head into his chest. He returned the embrace, wrapping his arms around his girlfriend.

After managing to compose herself, she found enough of her voice to speak again. "H-how? Wh-what hap-" Bobby held up his prosthetic arm in response to her question. "We tried to get in to the shelter once mom was sure I wasn't gonna turn. But they turned us away, saying the place was full".

Their conversation was interrupted by the faint crying coming from Bobby Jr.

"O-oh sorry little guy..." Lori then looked to Bobby and lifted their son up for him to take. She cautiously handed him off, "Bobby… m-meet Bobby Jr. Yo- Our son". Tears were beginning to fall from Bobby's eyes by this point. Not only was he reunited with the only love of his life, but here he was holding his son in his arms.

"I think this calls for a celebration!" Lola blurted out.

"I literally couldn't agree more" Lori said as she looked into Bobby's eyes and brought her lips to his. "I've missed that..." Lori said as she stared at him through half-lidded eyes. "So have I". He agreed.

* * *

The three families sat down for dinner at the Loud House that night, Clyde catching up with some of the Loud sisters on their journeys and them on his. Rita offered her condolences to Harold after hearing of Howard's and Lynn's death. Once dinner was finished, Harold pulled Rita off to the side, opting to tell just her about Lincoln and letting her decide to tell the others herself.

"So when we found… Lana's...grave. We stayed the night in a small cathedral". Rita informed him that was the same place they stayed at when they were in the town, and it was the same place that Lana died. Harold thought back to that place and remembered the blood he found on one of the tables, he thought nothing of it at the time but now realized that was Lana's blood.

"Well when Lynn and us were there, a family had entered the place, they were friendly and just looking for a place to stay. And it was a good thing we let them". Harold took a sip of his water before continuing his story. "The family told us that they ran into a young man traveling with a boy, their name's were Richard… and Lincoln". Rita clasped a hand over her mouth in response.

"They said that the man he was with, Richard, was friendly and offered them supplies, even after being threatened. According to them Lincoln was fine as well".

This gave the Loud matriarch a new hope, her son had made it out of that place alive, he was somewhere out in the world. "Last we knew, Lincoln was taken by a gang of men. They had brought him to some hotel, which we later found burned to the ground. We tried to go inside to get him… but, but Lynn almost died while we were there".

Rita broke down in tears as she thought back to that day, the choice her and the girls regrettably agreed to. "W-we left him Harold. I left my baby boy in that place all alone. When we tried to go back, the place was burned down… and I felt like I would never see him again".

Harold gently placed a comforting hand on her knee. "I'm sure he's still out there Rita. Looking for you guys, He'll find us I know he will". He assured her with a determined look in his eyes. "T-thank you Harold, for everything you've done for us. I-I don't think any of us would even be here now if it weren't for you getting us into that shelter back at the start of all this".

"No thanks are necessary, what else are friends for?" He smiled at her.

Rita followed Harold back to the dining room, informing her daughters of what Harold just told her.

"S-so he might still be alive!?" Lola nearly jumped out of her chair after hearing what her mother said.

"All we know is that he made it out of that hotel before it went down in flames. But yes, he could still be out there, searching for us". Rita wiped a stray tear from her eye after thinking about possibly seeing her son once again.

* * *

**February 13th, 2020 **

Richard was working furiously in the kitchen, preparing a bit of a surprise for Lincoln. This was the first time he was making something like this, he made sure to follow every step of the instructions, not wanting to screw it up. Lincoln didn't know it but Richard had found out what today was.

"okay, now I just gotta wait… I hope this turns out alright". Richard said to himself as he stared through the glass window of the oven. Rich set the timer and walked over to the couch, sitting down and picking up one of his comics to read.

Lincoln, meanwhile was in his room, playing a game on Rich's Nintendo Switch. He was racing against the computers in Mario Kart, and he was on the last lap in second place. He could see Bowser in first place just a bit ahead of him. He passed through one of the item cubes on the track. "come on, come on..." The randomized item landed on a red shell and Lincoln's face lit up with excitement. "okay wait for it, wait for it… now!" Lincoln used the red shell and hit Bowser just as they were coming up on the finish line.

Bowser flew up in the air and Lincoln zoomed right by him through the finish line, taking first place and winning the race. This was the last race in the cup, With Lincoln winning enough races to win the whole thing. "Yes!" Lincoln pumped his fist in the air in victory.

He heard the timer in the kitchen go off and wondered what Rich was making. He wandered into the hall and made his way towards the kitchen.

He saw Rich taking something out of the oven, but Rich quickly turned his head in the boy's direction and ordered him not to look. "Please. It's a surprise, trust me you'll like it". Rich said as he shielded whatever it was he was baking. "Okay, okay just let me know when whatever it is, is done".

Richard searched through the cabinets, looking for the finishing touch for his creation. His eyes lit up when he saw them next to the plates and grabbed some of them from the pack. Once everything was set, Richard dimmed the lights and called Lincoln back out.

Lincoln wondered why the lights were nearly off till he saw it sitting on the table.

A birthday cake. For Him.

"I hope it's alright… I kinda found out your family's birthdays when we were at your house and figured I'd surprise you". Rich had a sheepish smile across his face as he looked at the boy, hoping for a good reaction.

Lincoln looked at the cake, it had chocolate frosting over the top with thirteen candles stuck in it. He moved closer to the table, still staring at the delicious looking sweet with his name written on it, with… Orange icing.

Lincoln turned to Rich, with tears beginning to well up in his eyes. Without a word, the boy wrapped his arms around Rich. "T-thank you… Rich". Richard smiled warmly as he returned the boy's hug.

"Happy Birthday Lincoln".

Richard cut a piece of cake for Lincoln, telling him that the whole thing is his since Rich couldn't eat any of it. "So… how does it feel to be a teenager now".

"Um, not really any different than before I guess". Lincoln replied as he shoveled a bite of cake into his mouth. "Wow Rich, this is actually pretty good".

"Really? I'm glad you like it. I just followed the instructions from that recipe book over there. Never made a cake before so I'm just relieved you like it. Oh and by the way..." Rich went over to the storage room and grabbed a bag from just inside the doorway.

He handed the bag off to Lincoln. "It wouldn't be a birthday without any presents now would it". Lincoln's eyes lit up as he looked into the bag to see several wrapped presents for him. "I hope you like what I got..."

Lincoln opened the first present, tearing off the paper around the cardboard box. He opened the box to see several issues of Ace Savvy inside. There was a rather large stack as Rich had cleaned out every comic store they passed, taking the Ace Savvy issues without Lincoln's knowledge whenever they searched separately.

"I think you'll like that last one the most". Rich said with a proud smile. Lincoln looked at the issue on the bottom, it was still wrapped in it's original package, but the two things that caught Lincoln's eye was the issue number and what was written on the front.

It was the first issue of Ace Savvy, still in mint condition and signed by it's creator. "oh my god! No way! W-where did you find this!?" Lincoln shouted in excitement. "When we were searching around places in your home town actually".

Lincoln then opened up the other presents.

He was overjoyed to see the various things Rich got for him. Ace Savvy and One-eyed Jack action figures, still in the boxes. A couple different Smooch CDs. "I know, I know. You have the mp3 player but come on, you gotta appreciate the appeal of it". Rich defended his choice. "No I like it, really, thank you".

Then Lincoln got to the last gift.

"Alright this one… I came up with myself. I, I hope it's alright". Richard said as Lincoln tore the paper off the small box. He opened it up to see two charms and a two different sized silver chains.

One of the charms was a blue ribbon, and the other a silver heart with the word 'warrior' engraved on it. Lincoln looked up to Rich with a brow raised. "Okay so… you can either wear those as a necklace or bracelet, um… the ribbon, represents survival of child abuse. And of course the warrior one I think is self-explanatory".

Lincoln looked back down at the two charms after this revelation and could feel new tears forming in his eyes. "I got the idea from my sister, she got me a couple similar charms but obviously dealing with a different subject. You don't have to even wear em if you don't like them. Maybe I'm overstepping my bounds, being too much but I'm just sentimental like that".

Lincoln then got up from his seat and wrapped his arms around Richard's neck, silently crying into his shoulder. "Sniff* I-It's nice Rich. T-thank you...for everything".

Lincoln wiped his tears and put the charms around the longer chain to use as a necklace. Smiling as he looked at them around his neck."You know with the cake and all these gifts, I'd think you were trying to get in my pants". Both boys burst out in laughter at Lincoln's joke. "So, want another piece of Cake?" Rich asked once he had calmed down from his laughing fit. Lincoln smiled back at him. "Yes, please".

As Rich was getting ready for bed, Lincoln passed by his room, stopping in the doorway. "Hey Rich…I-I just wanted to say thanks again, really".

"Aw don't worry about it dude. I'm just glad you're doing better. Think we might try and head back out soon?" Rich asked.

"Almost, I know they're out there waiting for me… but I've been having a real good time just staying here. Howabout we head back out in a few weeks?"

"Fine by me, so long as you're good, I'm good. Goodnight Lincoln".

"Goodnight Rich".

* * *

**And there we are, one more chapter and we move on to the final part of this trilogy. Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and I'll see you for the final time on Returning Who Was Lost. **


	12. One More Try

**Hello dear readers! This is it. Today I bring you the finale to Returning Who Was Lost. Everything has been leading up to this. Will Lincoln finally reunite with his family? What other dangers will him and Rich face to make it a reality? And why am I asking you all this? Let's get the show on the road. Hope you guys and gals enjoy. **

* * *

**One More Try**

**March 20th, 2020 **

"Alright so we searched as far east as we could and checked every location we could think of as we made our way back..." Rich began as him and Lincoln looked over the map of the state. "We still have about half the state to search, granted there could only be so many places they would've stopped to try and make a home at".

"I- I'm still optimistic but… what if we don't find anything by the last stop? For all we know they could be at one of the places we already searched". Lincoln had a point there. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Till then we're gonna search the other side of the state and if we turn up nothing… then we'll keep searching".

Richard closed the map and both boys went to their respective rooms to get ready for their next search.

Rich opened up his closet and grabbed the black duster that he'd stopped wearing in favor of a more Winchester look. For the first half of the year in this apocalypse, the duster was part of Rich's signature look. It gave him the appearance of a wild west gunslinger, a rugged cowboy look that he liked.

But Rich attributed this look to who he had become before gunning down all those people in the hotel, and it was someone he didn't want to be anymore. But after recent events, and a re-examination of his psyche, Rich knew who and what he really was and didn't need a look to define him.

Rich sighed before grabbing a white undershirt, his red button-up dress shirt and threw the duster on. Drifter Rich was born anew and he was ready to face whatever they found out there.

Before grabbing his pack however, Rich looked at himself in the mirror, studying himself and really thinking about who he was now compared to back then. He raised his left hand and memories of that night flashed through his head. He quickly shook those thoughts from his head as he stared at the hand, which was painted black to give the appearance of being a simple gloved hand.

Lincoln and Rich had found a few other mannequins in that shop and took the left hands from each one, all being similar in size but different in position of the fingers.

Once the pair arrived back at the bunker, they got to work on designs for the different hands. Some based off of something from a movie or show they liked and a couple that were the Loud child's own design.

The one Rich currently wore was the one he used the most, there was another he used that was a closed fist and looked like the Infinity Gauntlet. The other designs included a simple human looking hand to blend in, a red and blue demonic looking one and a cyborg piece.

Richard appreciated the effort that Lincoln put into each hand, the fact that it kept the teen's mind occupied was a bonus. Rich took a few in his pack for their different uses. The closed fist, one that he used to steady his aim with his rifles and the one that made it look like he still had a hand.

Once everything was gathered up, he headed over to the kitchen to grab a few snacks for the journey, making sure to fill up the duffle bag with a decent amount of food for the both of them. Rich heard a door shut down the hall and saw Lincoln walk out into the living room with his traditional Orange Polo and jeans, with one hand holding the strap on his backpack.

"Looking spiffy… ready to head out?" Lincoln nodded and Rich headed to the storeroom to grab their guns and met Lincoln at the bunker door. They locked it down and left the house, once again in search of the Loud family, or whatever remained of it.

"Say I got an idea to one: make this a bit faster and two: more fun. Let's find a car with gas in it". Rich said to Lincoln as the two searched some of the abandoned cars in the neighborhood. Rich checked the tanks and tried to hotwire the first one with gas in it.

It was a Blue Hyundai Accent, similar to the one that Richard drove around in before everything turned to shit. Only difference was this one was a couple years newer and the one Rich had was red.

"The perks of having a mechanic as a brother… he taught me a thing or two". Rich said as he reminisced about what little time he did spend with his older brother. Rich got the car started and looked at the gas gauge, seeing that it was a little over half filled.

"Alright, get in". Lincoln started making his way over to the passenger side until he was stopped by Rich. "Don't you want to learn how to drive?" Rich said as he motioned his head to the driver seat. "R-really? You sure that's a good idea?"

Rich shrugged his shoulders. "Eh at least for a bit anyway, come on. Whats the worst that could happen?" Lincoln contemplated it for a minute and then got into the driver seat.

"Okay so first things first, seat-belt. Once that's good, you got your gas and brake pedal down there, gas on the right brakes on the left. Don't just press down on it with all your might either, get a feel for it and you'll know how much pressure to use".

Lincoln nodded in understanding as Rich explained the rest of the specifics about driving and how even though some rules don't currently apply, he should still remember them.

"Alright so put your foot on the brake, then put it in drive. Take it slow and we'll go from there. Ready?"

"Yeah. Let's ride!" Lincoln shifted the car into drive and slowly applied pressure to the gas, causing the car to move forward. "Good. Now don't be afraid to push down harder when you want, we got a bit of open road here and most likely no one else will be on it".

After moving down the main road at a modest 35 miles per hour, Rich told Lincoln to punch it, start speeding like a bat outta hell. Lincoln did as he was told and applied more force, speeding the car up past 60 miles per hour.

"That's it! Come on speed demon, show me what ya got!" Lincoln responded by rolling down his window and leaning out the side as he drove, shouting in excitement. "Yeah! Whoooo!"

He continued to speed up more until the two were coming up on a part of the road filled with more abandoned cars and a few walkers.

"Alright Lincoln, things are gonna get a bit crowded up here so slow her down a little". Lincoln let off the gas and the car slowed to a safe speed as they drove past multiple cars blocking the road. The two were coming up on their first stop and Lincoln parked the car on the side of the road in front of a small strip mall.

"So, how'd you like your first time driving?" Rich asked even though he knew the boy's answer judging by the wide smile on his face.

"It. Was. Awesome! I didn't think I'd ever be able to learn to drive like that considering everything that's happened". Rich chuckled to himself as he saw how happy Lincoln was, he was glad he could put a smile on the boy's face.

"You know the drill, search around for any evidence of your family and see if there's anything useful". Lincoln gave him a knowing nod and the two separated but stayed close just in case.

Richard headed inside a little pizza joint that was next to some loan office, hoping that there was still some type of food left inside they could take. It never hurt to have extra than what they needed. Back before the world fell, Rich never considered stepping foot inside a pizza place for food, but he knew places like this carried snack foods and drinks he could actually have without puffing up like a balloon and dying from lack of oxygen.

Spotting a rack with an assortment of bagged chips and junk food on it, Rich grabbed what was there, whatever he didn't eat he knew Lincoln would. He then turned his attention to the fridge by the front of the store where they kept the two liter bottles of sodas. He carefully crammed a few into his duffle bag, nearly filling it up completely now.

With how much Rich was carrying, he felt it would last them for a while before needing to really stop for supplies again. He wondered how Lincoln's search was going, by the looks of the place Rich didn't think his family would actually be here but stranger things have happened.

Lincoln was searching his way around the strip mall, not wandering too far from the pizzeria Richard was currently in so they wouldn't get separated.

He made his way inside a clothing store, looking to see if there was anything that he might wear, considering the two only brought so many clothes with them each time they went out. Lincoln found a few shirts and pants that were his size and a couple that looked like he'd grow into. He found a dressing room nearby and decided to try them out after making sure the place was clear of walkers.

Even though he saw none, it still felt like there was something else in the store with him. He simply attributed it to the creepy looking mannequins around the department and shrugged it off as he went into the dressing room.

Unknown to him however, a few of the shirts hanging on a display ring moved slightly as he closed the door.

Richard found an electronics store closer to the area Lincoln was searching in and decided to see if there was anything of worth inside, even though technology wasn't of much use these days. There was one thing of worth that all electronics stores carried though, batteries.

Richard grabbed a couple packs and threw them in his duffle bag, they'd need them depending on how long they stayed out. He then saw a few portable chargers hanging on a display rack and took them, having a few more life extensions for his switch and phone. He passed by the front counter and saw a wall lined with dvds on its shelves. "Time to add to my collection". Rich said to himself as he started picking out movies and tv series he hadn't had yet and realized his personal backpack was already almost filled. "guess that's enough for now… Gotta go find Linc and-"

"RICH!"

Richard cocked his head in the direction of the screaming, it was Lincoln and it sounded like there was trouble. Rich bolted out of the electronics store and tried to pinpoint which store Lincoln had gone into, running past the clothing store but turning back after catching something from his peripheral.

* * *

Lincoln had taken off his shirt, slightly grimacing as he looked at himself in the mirror and looked at the litany of scars that crossed his body. If he ever did find his family he knew he'd have to be careful not to let them see him like this, he didn't want them to fret over everything that happened. It was over, and he was stronger now because of it. They didn't need to be sad over something he's mostly gotten over.

He slipped out of his pants and went to grab one of the new pairs when he heard the cocking of a shotgun from outside the dressing room door. He was frozen stiff, there was someone in the store with him.

"I see that gun still in the holster on the ground. Make any move beyond opening that door and I'll blast you in an instant". Lincoln was beginning to panic, now his only defense was blown, he wasn't left with any options but to follow along with his stalker's demands for now. He took a deep breath and slowly opened the door, seeing a middle aged fat man holding the shotgun just a few feet away from the door. But Lincoln recognized who this was, and his mind nearly shut down.

"O-o-oh h-hey there L-Lincoln. I thought I lost you when the hotel was destroyed. I was so sad that I wouldn't get to play with you anymore".

Lincoln fought back the fear that was building inside him as he stared one of his previous captor's face. He was stronger now, he wouldn't let the past repeat itself. "H-hey Craig. L-long time no see. How are you here?"

Lincoln hated how weak his voice came out, he was trying to remain strong but he knew the danger of the situation he was in and his mind was reminding him of all the times Craig "had his fun".

"Oh I-I was out when whatever h-happened to my group O-c-occurred. By t-the way, what did happen?"

Lincoln grinned as he realized Craig didn't know about Richard, if he stalled long enough then he would come in and blow Craig away. "It was a group of people who came in and raided the place. They were nice enough to free me and I stayed with them for a bit before heading out on my own".

Craig frowned a little before looking to the side and smiling at a thought that crossed his mind. "S-so it's just y-you and me here. W-we can have fun again". Craig declared, elated that he could spend more time with the teen. "I don't think so Craig, I'm looking for my family, I don't think they'd take too kindly to how you treated me back in the hotel".

"B-but all I did was love you!" Craig held his shotgun closer as he tried to show his point of view. But Lincoln held nothing but disgust that Craig thought what happened was love.

"T-that wasn't love Craig, you should know better than that".

Lincoln was beginning to worry, Rich still hadn't shown up and he felt like things were escalating. Not to mention he hated being nearly naked in front of one of his abusers.

"M-maybe you just need to be reminded… why d-don't you take your underwear off and I'll show you". Lincoln's eyes widened from his request, Lincoln didn't have many options, he might be able to take Craig in a fight now but he really didn't want to find out. And that gun made things a lot more difficult since Craig looked to have a firm grip on the handle. If he was gonna do anything, that shotgun needed to go first, maybe he could work something out.

Lincoln hesitated before speaking again. "H-how about you put the shotgun away and I'll do it". Craig looked to be pondering his deal before slowly turning the shotgun behind his back, the strap still around his shoulder for quick access. But Lincoln knew how slow Craig actually was and he figured he could make it to him before he raised it high enough.

Doing as Richard does before and after any stressful moment, Lincoln breathed in, counted to four and exhaled, counted to four. Steeling his nerves, he rushed Craig, landing a solid kick to the man's nether regions. Craig recoiled in pain but soon recovered and attempted to punch the teen in retaliation.

Lincoln dodged it and delivered a right hook to Craig's face, causing him to stumble back. Lincoln put his arms up in and took a boxer's stance, ready to defend against the man's next attack. "M-making me work for it th-this time I see".

Lincoln felt a sudden unease and shouted out for Richard to come and help him. Craig charged the boy and shoved Lincoln back into the dressing room, the door swinging back and forth behind them. He had his hands around the teen's throat trying to squeeze the life from him before removing one of his hands and reaching for Lincoln's underwear.

"N-NO!" Lincoln put all the force he had behind his legs and kicked Craig away, sending him against the wall and making him fall through the dressing room door. Before the man had a chance to get back up, he heard the cock of a gun and looked above him to see Richard training his pistol to the man's head. "Stay down, make one attempt to get up and I won't hesitate to shoot. This is your one warning".

Rich tilted his head slightly up to look in Lincoln's direction, the teen had just opened the door to see Rich aiming his gun at Craig. He smiled in relief that he showed up when he did. Rich averted his eyes however once he saw the state of undress Lincoln was in and cleared his throat as a hint for him to get dressed.

Lincoln realized what he meant and shut the door, putting on the clothes he had earlier and walked out with his gun now in hand.

"Y-you lied to me Lincoln. S-said you were alone". Craig stuttered out, his eyes switching between Lincoln and Rich. Rich cocked a brow, mildly surprised this man knew Linc's name. "Does this guy know you?"

Lincoln looked off to the side, before answering his question. He was worried how Rich would react. "T-this is Craig… you know, from the hotel". Richard's eyes turned to daggers and he started shaking a bit from this revelation.

"Y-you were there? How did you escape? I killed everyone in that place! How are you here!?" Lincoln could see where Richard's mind was going, and he knew things were going to escalate soon, he just hoped Rich wouldn't go crazy. "I was out. By the time I got back, the place was on fire and I didn't see anyone nearby so I ran".

Richard thought back to what Lincoln had told him, he said that Craig was one of his most recurring abusers outside of Jim. He could feel that heat boiling up inside him that had become all too natural at this point. The rage that was overriding his normal thought processes, he wanted nothing more than to beat the living shit out of this "man" in front of him.

But he took a deep breath and looked to his left, seeing Lincoln's worried expression and he put that thought out of his mind. He let Craig sit up and asked if he was hungry, confusing both him and Lincoln. "U-uh yeah k-kinda". Richard threw him one of the bags of chips he found in the pizzeria and pulled up a chair to sit down, still aiming his gun at Craig.

He cautiously opened the bag of chips and started eating them, wondering what game this guy was playing at. Rich's expression hadn't changed, it was emotionless, his dead, expressionless stare trained on Craig as he ate the whole bag. Once he was done Rich spoke again, in his clam monotone voice.

"Was that good? Did you like em?" Craig slowly nodded in response, still confused by the change in this man's demeanor.

"Good". Rich plainly said.

The shot startled Lincoln as he was looking away when Rich had pulled the trigger. He looked back to Richard to see the smoke coming from the barrel of his gun and then back at Craig to see the man just as his corpse fell to the ground. A hole in his forehead. Without turning his head back to the Loud teen, Richard spoke again.

"Wanted to make sure he had a good last meal before his execution". He plainly said before getting up from the chair, putting his gun away and walking out of the clothing store. Lincoln stayed there for another minute, staring at Craig's dead body before heading back outside where Rich was waiting for him in the car. He drove this time.

"We probably got enough time for one more stop and then we'll rest for the night". Lincoln just nodded his head in acknowledgment, putting in his earbuds and listening to some music while Rich drove to their next destination.

* * *

**June 25****th****, 2020 **

"Hey Lincoln! Get up" Rich could hear the teen groaning on the other side of the door, wanting to sleep a little longer. "It's already past nine o clock. I wanted to be on the road already".

"Just five more minutes alright? I'll be out there soon". Richard sighed and walked back out into the living room.

Today was the day him and Lincoln were making their last trip to search the rest of the state. Their previous search attempt hadn't turned up anything besides the death of Craig, the last person left alive from Jim's hotel. They got back to the bunker and it took a while before Lincoln felt like he wanted to search for them again.

Like he said, Lincoln came out of his room fully dressed and ready to go after five minutes. Rich stopped by the supply room and grabbed their guns, meeting Lincoln by the front door and heading out for their last search. Richard had a special route planned before they continued their search however and the two made their way to where they first met.

"I really have a good feeling about it this time dude. I know we'll find them". Lincoln cast a glance at Rich. "You're only saying that because this will be the last time we're searching for a while, there's only so much of the state left remember?"

"Well still, I think we got them this time".

Lincoln soon realized where they were going and wanted to know why they were stopping there of all places.

"Cause I'm sentimental and It's been just over a year since we first met. So I wanted to go back to where it all began". The day was half over by the time the two arrived at the town Lincoln was brought to after being torn away from his family over a year ago. So much had happened since then, he and Richard were both different people than they were when they first met. And that was thanks in part to each other's company and advice.

The two came upon the destroyed remains of Lincoln's hell and silently stared at the rubble before walking off to their outpost on the roof of a nearby building. Half of the supplies were still there from when they left and the two took a few more things before exploring the town a bit more. They came to the outskirts of town and noticed a street sign on the road out of town, the same road they came through for the first location of their journey.

"Haven… well this wasn't here before. What do you think? If there's a place your family would've gone it would've been somewhere like this".

"Worth a shot I guess".

"If they are there, you owe me some of that candy you found the other day".

"Yeah… sure". Lincoln agreed to his deal, he knew they wouldn't find anything. They never do. This place was probably already destroyed or not the happy place they made it out to be.

The two started out down the road, now with a new destination in mind, and possibly the end of their journey.

* * *

**June 30****th****, 2020 **

Lincoln and Richard were nearing their destination, it was evening and the sun was getting close to setting on the horizon. The pair found an abandoned house and decided to make it their last stop for the day, planning on heading to bed early so they could make it to Haven quicker the following day.

"So are you excited? Thought anymore about what you'll say?" Rich asked as he munched on a small bag of chips.

"They might not even be there I-"

"Hey what did I say about staying optimistic?"

Lincoln rolled his eyes and shook his head. He appreciated all the effort Rich put into keeping his spirits up but sometimes he wished the man would back down a bit. "Anyway… if they are there, then I, I don't really know what I'll say to them".

"Just be all sappy and whatnot. Lots of "I love yous" and "I missed you guys so much" and just let the rest flow from there. I'm sure between you and your large family there will be plenty to talk about". "What if… what if more of them aren't there. What if more died an-"

"Don't start down that train of thought Lincoln. Always believe their alive until proven otherwise".

"Is that what you do with your family?" Rich opened his mouth but hesitated to speak. He had no idea whether any of his family is still alive or not, he knew how tough some of them were but others… He didn't want to imagine it.

Alive until proven otherwise.

"You never really talk about them..."

Richard looked at Lincoln, who was in turn giving him a sympathetic gaze. "You should know why… I left them and I don't like to think about that".

"What was it you said to me? They won't care what you did to get back to them, they'll just care that your back. From what you have actually told me about them, I'm sure the same goes for you". Richard bit his bottom lip and looked to be deep in thought, a heavy scowl across his brow. "How about you go to sleep, I'll take first watch".

Richard laid his carbine across his lap, with the barrel pointed towards the bedroom door, the house had too many entrances for both of them to sleep soundly.

When he saw that Lincoln was asleep, Richard took out his phone, scrolling through his pictures and looking at the few he took with his family. Most of the pictures on his phone were of his dog but there were enough of his family on there to reminisce about the good times.

He hoped they were still out there, living happily in some little corner of the world. He smiled when he found the group picture of his family at his grandparent's house, all standing around the bar with smiling faces.

Part of him wished he could go back to those days, the same part that wished he could relive the days before he discovered his taboo attractions, but he knew better. He preferred things the way they were now, this was the world he belonged in, this was who he was meant to be.

* * *

**July 1****st****, 2020 **

Richard and Lincoln walked along the main stretch of road leading into Haven, seeing it's walls come into view. It was past noon by the time they made it to the front gate. The two were hoping there would be time to eat peacefully inside. As they got closer to the gate the pair were spotted by the guard on top of the wall.

He gave them the usual order to enter with their hands up and they complied after taking a small moment of consideration. They slowly walked through the front gate as it slid open. Once the guard had a chance to come down and keep his gun trained just below them in case there was trouble were the two allowed to put their hands down.

A minute after entering Haven and the two saw a young woman rolling an empty cart over to the pair with a smile on her face.

"Hello there, and welcome to Haven. My name is Heather and I'm one of the people who run things around here. As policy I ask that you place any weapons you have on the cart, they'll be returned after a few days once we are sure you won't be any trouble".

Richard looked to Lincoln for his thoughts on the matter and it seemed like the teen held the same amount of trust he did for these people. Not too much. "Before we go through any process you have there's something I need to ask you".

Heather nodded, ready to answer whatever was asked.

"Do you know if there is any family here with the last name of Loud?"

She raised her brow in curiosity, wondering how these newcomers knew the Louds. "The Loud's? Why yes actually they live in that house over there. Just down the street, third from the wall".

The two both shared a similar reaction, wide-eyed and bewildered. They did it. They found the Louds.

"HA! I told you I'd keep my promise! It might've taken a year but boom there it is!" Lincoln was still to stunned to be fazed by Richard's little outburst. His heart had begun to pound in his chest and his head was spinning. His family was here, after all this time. "Okay now that that's out of the way..." Rich removed the Carbine and rifle from his shoulders placing them on the cart before opening up his duffle bag and taking out the shotgun and spare handguns he kept inside it.

"I do have one more thing to ask, and I assure you we won't be any trouble, this guy here is actually the only son the Loud's have. If I give you all the ammo I have for it, can I please keep my pistol here? It holds a large sentimental value to me".

Heather thought about his offer, her brow furrowing as she contemplated what he just told her about the kid he was with and how sincere he was being at the moment. _"Eh, it's just one handgun right?" _ She thought as she hesitantly nodded her head in agreement.

"Yes! Thank you, thank you. And again I swear there will be no problems here. We've been searching for his family for about a year now".

Richard unloaded his handgun and put the two spare clips he had for it on the cart with the rest of his guns. But noticed Lincoln hadn't put any of his on there.

Richard looked to Lincoln, who was still staring off into nothingness, dumbfounded that they actually found his family. He felt something nudge his shoulder and turned to see Rich motion for him to give his guns up.

"Oh… yeah".

Richard double checked with Heather which house it was and the two walked off to finally bring back what was missing. But Lincoln stopped when they were halfway down the street, his feet suddenly feeling very heavy and his whole body shaking. He hasn't felt like this in a long time.

Rich turned and noticed the teen's state of distress, wondering what the issue could be, if anything he should be through the roof that they finally found them.

Rich walked back to where Lincoln had stopped at, resting a hand on his shoulder and speaking in his caring brotherly tone. "Hey, Lincoln, What's the matter? You're family is literally sitting in that house right there. Don't you want to go and say hello?"

Lincoln bit his bottom lip as he looked at the asphalt. "I-I do but… I'm j-just..."

"Nervous?"

He nodded in response, he really did want to just run through that door and see his family, but there was still a part of him that was worried. Worried at who's still alive, how they'll react, them knowing the things he went through. This fear was currently dominating him in a way he hasn't felt since Jim.

"Tell ya what… howsabout I go in first and make an introduction. Maybe soften them up before you head in?" Lincoln considered his offer, it was a good way to break the ice and gauge their feelings.

"Okay. Sounds good".

Richard gave him a thumbs up and had Lincoln wait by the side of the house so they wouldn't see him and told him to wait until he came and got him. Lincoln sat down on the ground by the side of the house, out of view from anyone unless they came around the other side of the small bushes out front.

Richard sauntered up to the front door and knocked, wondering which Loud sister would greet him first. He was pleasantly surprised to see who he thought to be Luna standing in front of him.

"Why hello there, might this be the Loud residence?" He asked in his most friendliest tone. "Yeah it is, but who are you? I haven't seen you around here before so you must be new". Rich smiled as he looked her over once more and realized his guess was right, it was Luna, and her pictures didn't do her justice in his eyes.

Lincoln sat within earshot and he clenched his chest tight as he heard his sister's voice for the first time in over a year. He was breathing heavily and was relieved that she was alive, now he just hoped the others would be as well.

"Alright I'm gonna take a shot in the dark and guess… Luna?" He said guess, but he didn't want to be a super creep and act like he personally knew her yet.

"I'll ask this again, who are you? And two: how do you know my name?"

Now Richard felt like an idiot, he hadn't even introduced himself yet, he was being rude. "Oh I'm sorry where are my manners? My name is Richard and I'm here on some very important business that involves your family".

"And what might that be?" She was now interrogating the stranger, now known as Richard, wanting to make sure she didn't let anyone past who might hurt her family.

"It's really better if I talk to everyone at once, don't want to repeat my story over and over again. Are all the members in your family who are currently alive inside?"

Luna let out a slight frown as Rich said 'alive'. She didn't know this man and was really wanting to just head back inside and spend time with her family before a couple of them had to head off on their jobs for the day. "All except for my bro… But don't expect him to be here anytime soon".

Richard had to fight the urge to smile from her comment, if only she knew how close he really was. "Can I please come inside and speak with all of you? I swear it will only take a minute and then I'll be gone".

Luna sighed before tilting her head back inside the house, motioning him to come in, but told him to leave his belongings outside, especially the gun. He complied and stuck the gun in his backpack, securing his weapon before heading inside.

Luna followed close behind him as he curiously walked the hall, soon coming to the opening to the living room where the rest of the Loud family resided. Luna moved past him to sit next to Lynn on the couch. One by one they took notice of their new guest and just before any of them could ask who he was, Rich spoke up.

"Uh h-hello everyone. My name is Rich and uh well let me see if I can get this right". He began pointing to each of the Loud sisters as he named them off one by one. "Lori, Leni, Luna, Lynn… Jr., Lucy, Lola, Lisa and oh my god you guys found Lily!" Rita was surprised this complete stranger knew each of her children's names, and wondered just how he did. Before she had a chance to ask, Richard had resumed speaking.

"So I bet you're all surprised that I know your na- hang on who's the kid?" He asked as he stared at Bobby Jr. resting in Lori's arms.

"He's my son, Bobby Jr." Richard's eyes lit up with joy, having forgot that Lori was pregnant when Lincoln last saw her. He was gonna be overjoyed to see the new baby. "Named him after your boyfriend, that's nice. By the way where is his sister Ronnie?"

"She's actually with her mother and brother..." Richard's face fell after hearing that news, thinking that Rita meant she was dead. "Oh… I'm sorry to hear that".

"What do you mean? she's not dead". Richard's head perked up. "What? But I thought her mother wasn't with you guys… and her brother died when all this started".

"And how would you know that? How do you know are names? And for that matter just who are you?" Lynn began raising her voice in anger because this guy apparently knew a lot about them but they knew nothing beyond his name.

"Sorry, I kept playing out all the different ways this could go and I'm just flummoxed actually being here. But she's alive? And so is her brother and mom?" Rita nodded her head, still patiently waiting for Richard to get to the point of why he was there.

"One last question and then I'll start telling you everything. What about… their father? And um, the McBride's?"

Everyone's faces fell and Richard knew then the answer to his question. "Okay so he's not here, my condolences, what about the McBride's?" Rita looked back up to him and told him about Howard's fate, and that Clyde and Harold were the ones to bring Lily back.

"Okay, as promised. You guys answered all my questions so shoot. Ask me what you will".

"Why are you here!?" Lynn shot back.

Rich took a deep breath, really thinking about the exact words and how he should play the rest of this out. "I-It's about your brother. Lincoln".

There was a loud silence that fell under the room, no one being able to say anything after hearing their brother/son's name. "W-wait… You said your name was Richard?" He nodded. "Harold mentioned something about a man named Richard traveling with our son…do you know where he is!?"

He hesitated again before nodding his head yes, he was then immediately shoved against the wall by Lynn, demanding to know what the hell he was talking about.

"You-You lie! he's gone! Dead and that's because we left him. So just what the fuck are you doing here!?" Rich held his hands up in surrender, kindly asking to be put down and he would explain everything.

Once Lynn let him go, Rich straightened his shirt out and cleared his throat. "Your brother is alive. I assure you of that. We've been searching for you guys ever since I found him… he's uh, been through a lot".

"It isn't my place to tell you any of it though, that's his job. I just wanted to come in here alone first to ask that you guys err on the side of caution and not jump down his throat when he walks in here. He's told me stories of you guys overreacting so I just wanted to help make this easy for everyone".

When no one said anything, Richard slowly backed out of the living room and told them he'd go bring him in.

Richard went back outside and found Lincoln still sitting in the same spot he left him. "So good news and bad news, which do you want first?" Lincoln thought for a second before choosing bad. "So only a couple others didn't make it. Howard McBride… and your father. Good news is that everyone else is alive. Even Bobby Santiago and his mother".

Lincoln felt the sting in his heart when he heard his father was gone, but deep down he felt like he would never see him again anyway. He was more surprised by the fact that not only was Ronnie's mother alive but so was Her brother. He needed to find out how that happened.

"Come on. Don't want to keep them waiting". Richard said as he extended his hand to help the teen up. Lincoln hesitantly accepted it and began following Rich inside his new home. Richard opened the front door and the two could hear the quiet murmurs of the others in the living room die off.

Richard stepped in front of the entryway to the living room and looked to his left where Lincoln stood, still hesitant to see everyone again. After a little more urging from Rich however, He found the strength to move his feet and moved past the entry frame, still looking down at the floor.

He turned his gaze upwards after hearing the sharp gasps cutting through the silence that filled the house. And one by one, his eyes met those of his family, all of which were starting to fill with tears.

Lincoln was at a loss for words, he had no idea what to say after a year apart from them all. Realizing no one else was going to speak however, the teen found the words he wanted to say.

"Um h-hey guys… long time no see huh?"

* * *

**Soooo Sorry to leave you guys hanging like this. Had to give some incentive to read the last part of this trilogy. hehehe. I hope you guys enjoyed it despite the Infinity War level cliffhanger. I'll try and get the first chapter for the last part: What Was Missing as early as possible. But expect another chapter for Unwanted Feelings before it. Hope you guys have a good one and see you for the final part of this story. **


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